This paper provides a synthesis of the theoretical literature on financial distress. It employs a two-state framework, which more clearly captures the generalizations of the more complex models. The equation systems that are derived permit the development of a series of examples that convey the...

This paper analyzes the association between default and recovery rates on credit assets and seeks to empirically explain this critical relationship. We examine recovery rates on corporate bond defaults over the period 1982–2002. Our econometric univariate and multivariate models explain a...

AbstractConsidering the fundamental role played by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the economy of many countries and the considerable attention placed on SMEs in the new Basel Capital Accord, we develop a distress prediction model specifically for the SME sector and to analyze its...

AbstractWe propose a totally new approach toward assessing sovereign risk by examining rigorously the health and aggregate default risk of a nation's private corporate sector. Models such as our new Z-MetricsTMapproach can be utilized to measure the median probability of default of the...

We propose a new approach toward assessing sovereign risk by examining rigorously the health and aggregate default risk of a nation's private corporate sector. Models can be utilised to measure the probability of default of the non-financial sector cumulatively for five years, both as an...

The goal of this paper is to analyze the role that non-financial variables can play in assessing Smes creditworthiness and to compare their value in predicting business failure with the one of the most commonly used financial ratios. We investigate the importance for banks in modeling credit...

We propose a relatively simple, accurate and flexible approach to forecasting the distribution of defaulted debt recovery outcomes. Our approach is based on mixtures of Gaussian distributions, explicitly conditioned on borrower characteristics, debt instrument characteristics and credit...