Does Default Probability Matter in Latin American Emerging Markets?

We analyse the impact of default probability in four leading Latin American stock markets (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico). We find no positive default risk premium except in the case of Brazil, and in fact find a negative risk premium for Argentina and Mexico. The latter effect tends to fade when the analysis accounts for size and BTM market variables. Although we find no size effect in any of the markets considered, the BTM effect is very strong in all of them, and our results reveal a consistent relationship, analogous to that found in more developed markets, between default probability and the size and book-to-market variables. While the results do not appear to be related to the low liquidity that characterizes emerging markets, the default probability effect is, nevertheless, concentrated in illiquid stocks