On default correlation and pricing of collateralized debt obligation by copula functions

Default correlation is the key point for the pricing of multi-name credit derivatives. In this paper, we apply copulas to characterize the dependence structure of defaults, determine the joint default distribution, and give the price for a specific kind of multi-name credit derivative - collateralized debt obligation (CDO). We also analyze two important factors influencing the pricing of multi-name credit derivatives, recovery rates and copula function. Finally, we apply Clayton copula, in a numerical example, to simulate default times taking specific underlying recovery rates and average recovery rates, then price the tranches of a given CDO and then analyze the results.