Rating Agencies: Creating, Amplifying or Drawn by Events in the Sovereign Debt Crisis?

Rating agencies transform information on a country's political, economic and financial situation into a summary indicator for investors. Thereby they mainly facilitate cross-border investment. In a number of empirical studies, ratings have been found to have been responsible for a widening of intere...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Bibliographische Detailangaben
Link(s) zu Dokument(en):WIFO Publikation
Veröffentlicht in:Austrian Economic Quarterly
1. Verfasser: Thomas Url
Format: article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: 2012
Schlagworte:
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Rating agencies transform information on a country's political, economic and financial situation into a summary indicator for investors. Thereby they mainly facilitate cross-border investment. In a number of empirical studies, ratings have been found to have been responsible for a widening of interest rate differentials vis-à-vis a reference country considered as a safe haven. The potential of triggering a vicious circle of interest rate increases and downgrades have put rating agencies into the focus of political interest in the context of the European sovereign debt crisis.