Authors A. Huang and C. Chen (2012) examine credit default swap spreads as they relate to four specific events during the 2008 financial crises. Their research is quite valuable as they sought to challenge two common financial concepts known as the contagion effect and the competitive effect. From their research, they were able to conclude that the contagion effect dominated the 2008 financial crises. However, to reach this conclusion, they took their readers through a very in-depth analysis of both concepts as they relate to the event.

By examining the credit default swap prices during the financial crises, the authors were able to gather important data for their study. I found their research process to be quite thorough and I was interested to see how they organized their data for...