The characteristics book-to-market equity ratio, size and momentum are highly correlated with the average returns of common stocks. Fama and French (J Financ Econ 33(1):3-56, 1993), (J Finance 50(1):131-155, 1995) and (J Finance 51(1):55-84, 1996) argue (for size and the book-to-market equity...

We estimate and test several default risk models using new and unique data on corporate defaults in the German stock market. While defaults were extremely rare events in the 1990s, they have been a characteristic feature of the German stock market since the early 2000s. We apply the structural...