Whether and how credit default swaps (CDSs) affect corporate debt structure remains an unanswered question. We find that firms use more public debt relative to bank debt when CDSs referencing their debt start trading. The results are robust to the endogeneity of CDS trading. Furthermore, the increase in public debt is concentrated in senior bonds and notes, which are the most common CDS reference assets. The effect of CDS trading is most pronounced when bond underwriters take a net selling CDS position and for informationally opaque firms. These findings suggest that the hedging and informational roles of CDSs have real effects on corporate debt structure.

信用违约掉期（CDS）是否以及如何影响企业债务结构仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。我们发现，当引用其债务的 CDS 开始交易时，企业使用的公共债务相对于银行债务更多。结果对于 CDS 交易的内生性是稳健的。此外，公共债务的增加集中在高级债券和票据上，它们是最常见的CDS参考资产。当债券承销商采取净卖出 CDS 头寸以及信息不透明的公司时，CDS 交易的效果最为明显。这些发现表明，CDS 的对冲和信息作用对公司债务结构具有实际影响。