This paper examines the accuracy and timeliness of credit ratings in explaining the financial health of debt issuers over the recent financial crisis. Using annual financial statement data and macroeconomic indicators covering 2005-2013 for 2500 financial and non-financial institutions, this...

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked whether credit rating agencies (CRA) committed fraud by misleading investors with respect to the default risk on mortgage backed securities (MBS). This paper argues that, to the detriment of investors, the CRA did not incorporate information...

The 2008 crisis made clear that credit rating agencies (CRAs) can contribute to systemic financial risk. Surprisingly, post-crisis reforms have hardly addressed the underlying problems, including rating agencies' methodologies, their ratings' homogeneity, and widespread market reliance on these...