Competence behind sovereign ratings is crucial, given that the government bond market may be vulnerable to multiple equilibria and self-fulfilling prophecies. With this in mind, this paper reviews and scrutinises official Standard & Poor's publications that address key issues surrounding the...

Global factors are becoming increasingly important as a cause of international capital flows. It is nearly impossible for some countries to protect themselves from outside influences on their financial markets. This paper investigates the extent to which various global factors such as stock...