This paper asks whether rating agencies played a passive role or were an active driving force during Europe's sovereign debt crisis. We address this by estimating relationships between sovereign debt ratings and macroeconomic and structural variables. We then use these equ-ations to decompose...

Introduction : the responsibility of knowledge, challenges and responses -- The changing world and the Greek economy before the crisis -- The pre-crisis growth of the Greek economy -- The question of growth -- Human capital : education, innovation and health -- Cultural values, stereotypes and...