Economic Definition of default risk. Defined.
Offline Version: PDF
Term default risk Definition: The probability that a borrowing agent will not pay in full the agreed interest and/or principal. A default risk can be assigned to any bond or loan agreement. Of course, there are some instruments considered default-risk-free, that is, instruments for which the probability that a borrowing agent will not pay is zero. The most noted examples are the U.S. Treasury securities, which have virtually no default risk because the U.S. government guarantees that all the principal and interest will be repaid. When calculating the risk premium on financial instruments, investors use default-risk-free instruments for comparison.
« decreasing-cost industry | deflation »
Permalink: https://glossary.econguru.com/economic-term/default+risk