NYU Stern Professor Ed Altman loves bankruptcies so much that he uncorks a bottle of vintage claret and shares it with Mrs Altman whenever a big bankruptcy occurs. That being the case, the Altman house could be permanently sozzled in the next couple of years.
He loves bankruptcies because they give more ammo to his Z score, a linear bankruptcy predictor that he pioneered decades ago. When this correspondent heard Professor Altman speaking in New York more than 10 years ago, he mentioned then that he was stymied by the lack of defaults with which to prove his theories. Since then, bankruptcies have increased, and he believes we are now in a purple patch,...