In this paper, we develop a methodology to model, simulate and assess the joint default process of hundreds of issuers. Our study is based on a data set of default probabilities supplied by Moody's Risk Management Services. We undertake an empirical examination of the joint stochastic process of...

This article reviews structural credit risk models. Special emphasis is on the distinction between endogenous default versus exogenous default and the economic implications of the different assumptions. It is argued that models with endogenous default provide more insight into the default...

We examine the mechanism through which a financial crisis affects the default risk of real economy firms. Specifically, firms with strong dependence on bank financing suffer higher increases in default risk than firms with no such dependence. Conversely, firms relying solely on financing from...