IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aecrev/v108y2018i2p454-88.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Option-Based Credit Spreads

Author

Listed:
  • Christopher L. Culp
  • Yoshio Nozawa
  • Pietro Veronesi

Abstract

We present a novel empirical benchmark for analyzing credit risk using "pseudo firms" that purchase traded assets financed with equity and zero-coupon bonds. By no-arbitrage, pseudo bonds are equivalent to Treasuries minus put options on pseudo firm assets. Empirically, like corporate spreads, pseudo bond spreads are large, countercyclical, and predict lower economic growth. Using this framework, we find that bond market illiquidity, investors' overestimation of default risks, and corporate frictions do not seem to explain excessive observed credit spreads but, instead, a risk premium for tail and idiosyncratic asset risks is the primary determinant of corporate spreads.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher L. Culp & Yoshio Nozawa & Pietro Veronesi, 2018. "Option-Based Credit Spreads," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(2), pages 454-488, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:108:y:2018:i:2:p:454-88
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.20151606
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20151606
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=6286
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/attachments?retrieve=ugftBEP2Y_LGgmyqfOqiIPiPi0YlzORa
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/attachments?retrieve=g24YMEfCmTTRmgmdL8ugul6hlvMRvaTv
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    2. Mark Broadie & Mikhail Chernov & Michael Johannes, 2009. "Understanding Index Option Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(11), pages 4493-4529, November.
    3. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:6:p:2225-2241 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Turalay Kenc & Emrah Ismail Cevik & Sel Dibooglu, 2021. "Bank default indicators with volatility clustering," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 127-151, March.
    2. Kim, Sung Ik, 2023. "A comparative study of firm value models: Default risk of corporate bonds," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    3. Bai, Jennie & Bali, Turan G. & Wen, Quan, 2019. "Common risk factors in the cross-section of corporate bond returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(3), pages 619-642.
    4. Davide E Avino & Enrique Salvador, 2024. "Contingent Claims and Hedging of Credit Risk with Equity Options," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(2), pages 310-348.
    5. Yinghui Chen & Lunan Jiang, 2019. "Liquidity Risk and Corporate Bond Yield Spread: Evidence from China," CFDS Discussion Paper Series 2019/9, Center for Financial Development and Stability at Henan University, Kaifeng, Henan, China.
    6. Niu, Huawei & Hua, Wei, 2019. "An endogenous structural credit risk model incorporating with moral hazard and rollover risk," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 47-59.
    7. Thaddeus Neururer, 2020. "Past managerial guidance and returns to variance trading around earnings announcements," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(3), pages 2995-3031, September.
    8. Harrison, Andre & Reed, Robert R., 2023. "Gross capital inflows, the U.S. economy, and the response of the Federal Reserve," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    9. Bai, Jennie & Goldstein, Robert S. & Yang, Fan, 2020. "Is the credit spread puzzle a myth?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(2), pages 297-319.
    10. Cremers, Martijn & Fleckenstein, Matthias & Gandhi, Priyank, 2021. "Treasury yield implied volatility and real activity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(2), pages 412-435.
    11. Jorge Cruz Lopez & Alfredo Ibanez, 2020. "European Puts, Credit Protection, and Endogenous Default," University of Western Ontario, Departmental Research Report Series 20205, University of Western Ontario, Department of Economics.
    12. Turalay Kenc & Emrah Ismail Cevik, 2021. "Estimating volatility clustering and variance risk premium effects on bank default indicators," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1373-1392, November.
    13. Jing-Zhi Huang & Bibo Liu & Zhan Shi, 2023. "Determinants of Short-Term Corporate Yield Spreads: Evidence from the Commercial Paper Market," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 27(2), pages 539-579.
    14. Bai, Jennie & Goldstein, Robert S. & Yang, Fan, 2019. "The leverage effect and the basket-index put spread," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(1), pages 186-205.
    15. Leopoldo Catania & Alessandra Luati & Pierluigi Vallarino, 2021. "Economic vulnerability is state dependent," CREATES Research Papers 2021-09, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    16. Luca Benzoni & Lorenzo Garlappi & Robert Goldstein, 2023. "Incomplete Information, Debt Issuance, and the Term Structure of Credit Spreads," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(7), pages 4331-4352, July.
    17. Thaddeus Neururer & George Papadakis & Edward J. Riedl, 2020. "The Effect of Reporting Streaks on Ex Ante Uncertainty," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(8), pages 3771-3787, August.
    18. Chan, Ka Kei & Kolokolova, Olga & Lin, Ming-Tsung & Poon, Ser-Huang, 2023. "Price convergence between credit default swap and put option: New evidence," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 188-213.
    19. Diogo Duarte & Rodolfo Prieto & Marcel Rindisbacher & Yuri F. Saporito, 2022. "Vanishing Contagion Spreads," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(1), pages 740-772, January.
    20. Gruenthaler, Thomas & Lorenz, Friedrich & Meyerhof, Paul, 2022. "Option-based intermediary leverage," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    21. Gemmill, Gordon & Marra, Miriam, 2019. "Explaining CDS prices with Merton’s model before and after the Lehman default," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 93-109.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christopher L. Culp & Yoshio Nozawa & Pietro Veronesi, 2014. "Option-Based Credit Spreads," NBER Working Papers 20776, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Peter Christoffersen & Ruslan Goyenko & Kris Jacobs & Mehdi Karoui, 2018. "Illiquidity Premia in the Equity Options Market," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(3), pages 811-851.
    3. Borochin, Paul & Wu, Zekun & Zhao, Yanhui, 2021. "The effect of option-implied skewness on delta- and vega-hedged option returns," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    4. Mi‐Hsiu Chiang & Hsin‐Yu Chiu & Robin K. Chou, 2021. "Relevance of the disposition effect on the options market: New evidence," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 50(1), pages 75-106, March.
    5. Chen, Hsuan-Chi & Chung, San-Lin & Ho, Keng-Yu, 2011. "The diversification effects of volatility-related assets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 1179-1189, May.
    6. José P. Dapena & Julian R. Siri, 2017. "Testing excess returns from passive options investment strategies," CEMA Working Papers: Serie Documentos de Trabajo. 605, Universidad del CEMA.
    7. Chabi-Yo, Fousseni & Ruenzi, Stefan & Weigert, Florian, 2018. "Crash Sensitivity and the Cross Section of Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 1059-1100, June.
    8. Andrea Frazzini & Lasse Heje Pedersen, 2022. "Embedded Leverage [Asset pricing with liquidity risk]," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 12(1), pages 1-52.
    9. Arthur Korteweg & Stefan Nagel, 2016. "Risk‐Adjusting the Returns to Venture Capital," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(3), pages 1437-1470, June.
    10. Christoffersen, Peter & Fournier, Mathieu & Jacobs, Kris & Karoui, Mehdi, 2021. "Option-Based Estimation of the Price of Coskewness and Cokurtosis Risk," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(1), pages 65-91, February.
    11. James S. Doran, 2020. "Volatility as an asset class: Holding VIX in a portfolio," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(6), pages 841-859, June.
    12. Guasoni, Paolo & Huberman, Gur & Wang, Zhenyu, 2011. "Performance maximization of actively managed funds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 574-595, September.
    13. George M. Constantinides & Michal Czerwonko & Stylianos Perrakis, 2020. "Mispriced index option portfolios," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 49(2), pages 297-330, June.
    14. Sankar, Ganesh & Ramachandran, Shankar & Lukose P J, Jijo, 2020. "Dynamics of variance risk premium: Evidence from India," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 321-334.
    15. Veronesi, Pietro & Nozawa, Yoshio & Culp, Christopher L., 2014. "Option-Based Credit Spreads," CEPR Discussion Papers 10318, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Amit Goyal & Alessio Saretto, 2022. "Are Equity Option Returns Abnormal? IPCA Says No," Working Papers 2214, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    17. Byeong-Je An & Andrew Ang & Turan G. Bali & Nusret Cakici, 2014. "The Joint Cross Section of Stocks and Options," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(5), pages 2279-2337, October.
    18. Nicos Koussis & Michalis Makrominas, 2015. "Growth options, option exercise and firms’ systematic risk," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 243-267, February.
    19. Santa-Clara, Pedro & Saretto, Alessio, 2009. "Option strategies: Good deals and margin calls," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 391-417, August.
    20. Buchner, Axel & Wagner, Niklas, 2016. "The betting against beta anomaly: Fact or fiction?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 283-289.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E23 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Production
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • G13 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Contingent Pricing; Futures Pricing
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:108:y:2018:i:2:p:454-88. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.