We empirically investigate the benefits of multiple ratings not only at issuance of debt instruments but also during the subsequent monitoring phase. Using a record of monthly credit rating migration data on all U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities rated by Standard & Poor's, Moody's, and...

We compare the stability and timeliness of credit ratings produced by a traditional issuer-paid rating agency (Moody's Investors Service) and a subscriber-paid rater (Rapid Ratings). Moody's ratings exhibit less volatility but are slower to identify default risk. We control for Moody's aversion...

Rating agencies strive to assign reliable, objective and comparable credit ratings as an indicator on one consistent scale. We test empirically how rating agencies meet their promise of providing objective and comparable assessments of credit risk of an issuer and thus creditworthiness. Logistic...

We find that Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) see through transitory shocks to credit risk that stem from transitory shocks to equity prices, while market-based measures of credit risk do not. For a given stock return, CRAs are significantly less likely to downgrade firms with transitory shocks...

This paper provides evidence of ratings shopping in the corporate bond market. By estimating systematic differences in agencies' biases about any given firm's bonds, I show that new bonds are more likely to be rated by agencies that are positively biased towards the firm---a pattern that is...

We develop a rational expectations model in which an issuer purchases credit ratings sequentially, deciding which to disclose to investors. Opacity about contacts between the issuer and rating agencies induces potential asymmetric information about which ratings the issuer obtained. While the...

We test whether ratings are comparable across asset classes over a 30-year sample. We examine default rates by initial rating, accuracy ratios, migration metrics, instantaneous upgrade and downgrade intensities, and rating changes over bonds' entire lives in multivariate regressions. These...

We test the hypothesis that financial institutions and other regulated institutional investors benefit from relatively uninformative credit ratings. Using credit ratings without regulatory implications as a benchmark, we show that Moody's certifies riskier bonds as investment grade. This...

Wealth transfer effects between stockholders and bondholders on the announcement date of changes in a firm's credit rating have primarily been examined a) for one type of security; b) on US capital markets; and c) by applying standard event study methods. In contrast to these investigations, we...

The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) has led to a general discussion of the accuracy and declining standards of credit rating agency ratings. Substantial criticism has been directed toward the securitisation market, which has been identified as one of the main sources of the crisis. This study...