Modeling defaults is critical to risk management as well as pricing debt portfolios and portfolio derivatives. In the recent financial crisis, multi-billion-dollar losses resulted from correlated defaults that were improperly modeled. This paper proposes statistical approximations which are more...

The paper deals with the evaluation of Collateralized Debt Obligations for investment purposes. CDOs are classified in the asset backed environment. Its specific risks (market, timing, recovery, agency) are discussed. To understand the portfolio aspect, the concept of the diversity score is...

The National Establishment Time Series (NETS) is a private sector source of U.S. business microdata. Researchers have used state-specific NETS extracts for many years, but relatively little is known about the accuracy and representativeness of the nationwide NETS sample. We explore the...

In this article, we present a brief history of the development of services industry data in the United States, review the substantial progress that has been made over the past decade and a half, and present recommendations for needed additional improvements. We conclude that the state of U.S....