We measure speculation in the CDS market and investigate its determinants. The CDS volume on a firm that exceeds its outstanding debt (= naked CDS) indicates speculation since hedging can be ruled out. Using weekly CDS trading volume data for actively traded U.S. firms during 2008-2012, we...

We investigate whether and how business credit information sharing helps to better assess the default risk of private firms. Private firms represent an ideal testing ground because they are smaller, more informationally opaque, riskier, and more dependent on trade credit and bank loans than...