Credit rating agencies formulate publicly available opinions on the capacity and willingness of debtors to repay debts. By doing so, they reduce the information asymmetry between creditors and borrowers. Owing to regulatory efforts commenced in recent years, credit rating processes have become...

This paper investigates the reaction of credit default swaps spreads to changes in rating class, outlook, and watchlist entries for sovereigns. We find a stronger response to negative outlook and watchlist changes than for actual rating class downgrades, which shows that negative outlook and...

The investment of foreign exchange reserves or other asset portfolios requires an assessment of the credit quality of investment counterparties. Traditionally, foreign exchange reserve and asset managers have relied on credit rating agencies (CRAs) as the main source for credit assessments. The...

This paper describes and evaluates "shadow" sovereign credit ratings, which represent the credit ratings of countries that are not rated by credit rating agencies. Credit ratings represent the creditworthiness of companies or governments. They are important in attracting foreign capital....

Credit rating agencies are frequently criticized for producing biased sovereign ratings. This article discusses how the home country of rating agencies could affect rating decisions as a result of political economy influences and cultural distance. Using data from nine agencies based in six...

IMF programs are often considered to carry a "stigma" that triggers adverse market reactions. We show that such a negative IMF effect disappears when accounting for endogenous selection into programs. To proxy for a country's access to financial markets, we use credit ratings and investor...

Credit rating agencies are frequently criticized for producing sovereign ratings that do not accurately reflect the economic and political fundamentals of rated countries. This article discusses how the home country of rating agencies could affect rating decisions as a result of political...

Credit rating agencies are frequently criticized for producing sovereign ratings that do not accurately reflect the economic and political fundamentals of rated countries. This article discusses how the home country of rating agencies could affect rating decisions as a result of political...

The sovereign credit ratings provided by credit rating agencies have great impact on a country's access to credit markets. To gain access to international credit markets, a country usually seeks ratings from the three biggest international credit rating agencies: Standard & Poor's, Moody's, and...

Key role of credit rating agencies is reducing the asymmetry information about credit quality (of governments, business entities or securities) between issuers and investors, and ensuring a common standard of measuring the creditworthiness. Credit rating agencies are engaged in the sale of...