Credit Risk Pricing via Epstein-Zin Pricing Kernel

Abstract

We present an equilibrium framework for pricing corporate bonds with information delay in an Epstein-Zin setting. As in structural models of credit risk, the default time is modeled as the first hitting time of a default boundary by the unobservable process; the firm's asset value. The observable state variables; log consumption and volatility are affine processes which drive the unobservable firm's value process. The stochastic pricing kernel is expressed in terms of the state variables. The price of a zero-coupon bond is expressed as the solution of a multidimensional partial differential equation which is solved numerically. Our equilibrium price model is also calibrated to fit available corporate bond and consumption data. Finally, we analyze the implications of investor’s preferences and information delay on the credit yield spreads.