Are Corporations Reducing or Taking Risks with Derivatives?
利用425家美国大公司的财务数据，考察企业使用衍生品是降低还是增加风险，发现使用衍生品的公司与未使用的公司在风险上几乎没有可测量的差异。
Public discussion about corporate use of derivatives focuses on whether firms use derivatives to reduce or increase firm risk. In contrast, em- pirical, academic studies of corporate derivatives-use take it for granted that firms hedge with derivatives. Using data from financial statements of 425 large u.s. corporations, we investigate whether firms systematically reduce or increase their riskiness with derivatives. We find that many firms manage their exposures with large derivatives positions. Nonetheless, compared to firms that do not use financial derivatives, firms that use derivatives display few, if any, measurable differences in risk that are associated with the use of derivatives.