We characterize dependence and tail dependence in corporate credit using a new class of dynamic copula models which can capture dynamic dependence and asymmetry in large samples of …rms. We also document important di¤erences between the dependence dynamics for credit spreads and equity returns. Modeling a decade of weekly CDS spreads for 215 …rms, we …nd that copula correlations are highly time-varying and persistent, and that they increase signi…cantly in the …nancial crisis and have remained high since. Perhaps most importantly, tail dependence of CDS spreads increases even more than copula correlations during the crisis and remains high as well. The most important shocks to credit dependence occur in August of 2007 and in August of 2011, but interestingly these dates are not associated with signi…cant changes to median credit spreads. The decrease in diversi…cation potential caused by the increase in dependence and tail dependence is large. Finally, we …nd that the CDS volatility, correlation and tail dependence measures that we have constructed using the dynamic copula model are important determinants of credit spreads over time.JEL Classi…cation: G12

Forecasting the evolution of security co-movements is critical for asset pricing and portfolio allocation. Hence, we investigate patterns and trends in correlations over time using weekly returns for developed markets (DMs) and emerging markets (EMs) during the period 1973-2012. We show that it is possible to model co-movements for many countries simultaneously using BEKK, DCC, and DECO models. Empirically, we …nd that correlations have signi…cantly trended upward for both DMs and EMs. Based on a time-varying measure of diversi…cation bene…t, we …nd that it is not possible in a long-only portfolio to circumvent the increasing correlations by adjusting the portfolio weights over time. However, we do …nd some evidence that adding EMs to a DM-only portfolio increases diversi…cation bene…ts.JEL Classi…cation: G12

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