A stochastic volatility model where volatility was driven solely by a latent variable called news was estimated for … volatilities. Volatility persistence being close to one was consistent with both volatility clustering and mean reversion … specification improvements were always possible. The model corroborated stylized findings in volatility modeling and has potential …

appropriately. Finally, we implement a simple stochastic volatility model and simulate the credit transition matrix for two large … the constant volatility case. In particular, it can shift CTM probabilities towards lower credit risk categories …

The literature on leverage until now shows how an increase in volatility reduces leverage. However, in order to explain … pro-cyclical leverage it assumes that bad news increases volatility. This paper suggests a reason why bad news is more … often than not associated with higher future volatility. We show that, in a model with endogenous leverage and heterogeneous …