No need to be dismissive - simple financial instruments are only obscure to those who willfully remain ignorant.<p>Your parent post&#x27;s statement is a reference one of the basic financial models in asset pricing literature, the &quot;Merton model&quot; (Merton RC. 1974. &quot;On the pricing of corporate debt: the risk structure of interest rates.&quot; J. Finance 29:449–70)