In recent years, credit risk has played a key role in risk management issues. Practitioners, academics and regulators have been fully involved in the process of developing, studying and analyzing credit risk models in order to find the elements which characterize a sound risk management system.(...)

Since the start of the financial crisis, industrial country public debt levels have increased dramatically. And they are set to continue rising for the foreseeable future. A number of countries face the prospect of large and rising future costs related to the ageing of their populations. In this...