Credit Rating and Credit Spread: Some Empirical Evidence in Taiwan

In recent years, issues about credit risk attract more and more attentions. This thesis provides some empirical evidence for the behavior of credit spreads in Taiwan based on a Markov model proposed by Jarrow, Lando, and Turnbull (1997). Although the estimated risk premium adjustments increases as the credit rating level goes downward, it does not exist robust relations between credit yield spreads and credit ratings. Apparently, the model does not fit the real condition well because of some structural factors and limitations. I try to suggest some possible explanations for this phenomenon. Despites some poor performances of this model, these results still offer some directions to reconsider the valuation of straight corporate bonds in Taiwan