The Two Sides of Derivatives Usage: Hedging and Speculating with Interest Rate Swaps
利用面板数据区分企业对利率掉期的长期对冲与短期投机行为，发现高投资企业更倾向对冲，而高管薪酬敏感时企业更可能投机。
Abstract Existing cross-sectional findings on nonfinancial firms’ use of derivatives that are usually interpreted as the result of hedging may alternatively be due to speculation. Panel data examinations can distinguish between derivatives practices that endure over time and are therefore more likely to result from hedging, and those that are more transient, thus more consistent with speculation. Our decomposition results indicate that hedging of interest rate risk is concentrated among high-investment firms, consistent with costly external finance. Simultaneously, firms appear to use interest rate swaps to manage earnings and to speculate when their executive compensation contracts are more performance sensitive.