Two models of default risk are prominent in the financial literature: Merton's structural model and Altman's reduced-form model. The former has the benefit of being responsive, since the probabilities of default can continually be updated with the evolution of firms' asset values. Its main flaw...

From the introduction: Motor vehicle accidents are still a leading cause of death, even if the trend has somewhat declined over the past 20 years. Indeed, motor vehicle accidents are a significant cause of death in comparison with air and space transport accidents, homicides and even HIV...