Using Utility Functions to Model Risky Bonds

This paper prices defaultable bonds by incorporating inherent risks with the use of utility functions. By allowing risk preferences into the valuation of bonds, nonlinearity is introduced in their pricing. The utility-function approach affords the advantage of yielding exact solutions to the risky bond pricing equation when familiar stochastic models are used for interest rates. This can be achieved even when the default probability parameter is itself a stochastic variable. Valuations are found for the power-law and log utility functions under the interest-rate dynamics of the extended Vasicek and CIR models.