This paper provides the first empirical investigation of the influence of credit default swaps (CDS) on the surge in subprime mortgage defaults, which is widely believed to be a driving force in the 2008/2009 financial crisis. In the years just before the 2008/2009 financial crisis, private...

We offer the first empirical evidence on the adverse effect of credit default swap (CDS) coverage on subprime mortgage defaults. Using a large database of privately securitized mortgages, we find that higher defaults concentrate in mortgage pools with concurrent CDS coverage and within these...

Examining the contractual disclosures during the sale of private-label residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) before the 2008 financial crisis, we find that textual contents in the risk-factor section predict subsequent losses and yet were not reflected in pricing. Insurance companies,...