Our model perform well within the sample. the r-squares for the panel and cross-sectional regressions are 45% and 65% respectively. the f-statistics indicate that our models are well specified. With respect to control variables our results are consistent with the findings of prior empirical studies. As in duffee 1998 and Collin-dufresne Goldstein and martin 2001 both t-bill yield and treasury spread relate negatively to credit spreads. The treasury spread volatility, as predicted by theory (Acharya and Carpenter, 2002), associates positively with credit spreads. Similar to Elton et al.
2001,