BIS Working Papers No 191 Explaining the Level of Credit Spreads: Option-Implied Jump Risk Premia in a Firm Value Model Martijn Cremers, Joost Driessen, Pascal Maenhout, David Weinbaum November 2005 JEL Classification Numbers: G12, G13 Keywords: Credit spreads, Firm value model, Jump-diffusion model, Option pricing BIS Working Papers are written by members of the Monetary and Economic Department of the Bank for International Settlements, and from time to time by other economists, and are published by the Bank. The views expressed in them are those of their authors and not necessarily the views of the BIS. Copies of publications are available from: Bank for International Settlements Press & Communications CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland E-mail:
[email protected] Fax: +41 61 280 9100 and +41 61 280 8100 This publication is available on the BIS website (www.bis.org). © Bank for International Settlements 2005. All rights reserved. Brief excerpts may be reproduced or translated provided the source is cited. ISSN 1020-0959 (print) ISSN 1682-7678 (online) Foreword On 9-10 September 2004, the BIS held a workshop on “The pricing of credit risk”. This event brought together central bankers, academics and market practitioners to exchange views on this issue (see the conference programme in this document). This paper was presented at the workshop. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not those of the BIS. iii BIS workshop on “The pricing of credit risk” 9-10 September 2004, Basel, Switzerland Conference programme Opening remarks William