The goal of this paper is to examine the impact of 1975 Congressional mandate to integrate the trading of NYSE-listed stocks.

Chicago-based Morningstar rates the investment performance of mutual funds, assigning one to five stars with five being the best rating. This paper first documents the method that Morningstar uses in assigning these widely circulated ratings and then explores in detail the implications for the...

In recent years, the number of downgrades in corporate bond ratings has exceeded the number of upgrades, This fact has led some to conclude that the creidt quality of US corporate debt has declined. However, declining credit quality is not the only possible explanation. An alternative...