IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/1509.01839.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Efficiency and credit ratings: a permutation-information-theory analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Aurelio F. Bariviera
  • Luciano Zunino
  • M. Belen Guercio
  • Lisana B. Martinez
  • Osvaldo A. Rosso

Abstract

The role of credit rating agencies has been under severe scrutiny after the subprime crisis. In this paper we explore the relationship between credit ratings and informational efficiency of a sample of thirty nine corporate bonds of US oil and energy companies from April 2008 to November 2012. For that purpose, we use a powerful statistical tool relatively new in the financial literature: the complexity-entropy causality plane. This representation space allows to graphically classify the different bonds according to their degree of informational efficiency. We find that this classification agrees with the credit ratings assigned by Moody's. Particularly, we detect the formation of two clusters, that correspond to the global categories of investment and speculative grades. Regarding to the latter cluster, two subgroups reflect distinct levels of efficiency. Additionally, we also find an intriguing absence of correlation between informational efficiency and firm characteristics. This allows us to conclude that the proposed permutation-information-theory approach provides an alternative practical way to justify bond classification.

Suggested Citation

  • Aurelio F. Bariviera & Luciano Zunino & M. Belen Guercio & Lisana B. Martinez & Osvaldo A. Rosso, 2015. "Efficiency and credit ratings: a permutation-information-theory analysis," Papers 1509.01839, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1509.01839
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1509.01839
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charles, Amélie & Darné, Olivier, 2009. "The efficiency of the crude oil markets: Evidence from variance ratio tests," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4267-4272, November.
    2. Rosso, Osvaldo A. & Craig, Hugh & Moscato, Pablo, 2009. "Shakespeare and other English Renaissance authors as characterized by Information Theory complexity quantifiers," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 388(6), pages 916-926.
    3. Alvarez-Ramirez, Jose & Alvarez, Jesus & Solis, Ricardo, 2010. "Crude oil market efficiency and modeling: Insights from the multiscaling autocorrelation pattern," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 993-1000, September.
    4. Zunino, L. & Pérez, D.G. & Kowalski, A. & Martín, M.T. & Garavaglia, M. & Plastino, A. & Rosso, O.A., 2008. "Fractional Brownian motion, fractional Gaussian noise, and Tsallis permutation entropy," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(24), pages 6057-6068.
    5. Alvarez-Ramirez, Jose & Rodriguez, Eduardo & Alvarez, Jesus, 2012. "A multiscale entropy approach for market efficiency," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 64-69.
    6. Alvarez-Ramirez, Jose & Escarela-Perez, Rafael, 2010. "Time-dependent correlations in electricity markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 269-277, March.
    7. Risso, Wiston Adrián, 2008. "The informational efficiency and the financial crashes," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 396-408, September.
    8. Serletis, Apostolos & Rosenberg, Aryeh Adam, 2007. "The Hurst exponent in energy futures prices," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 380(C), pages 325-332.
    9. Alvarez-Ramirez, Jose & Alvarez, Jesus & Rodriguez, Eduardo, 2008. "Short-term predictability of crude oil markets: A detrended fluctuation analysis approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 2645-2656, September.
    10. Ortiz-Cruz, Alejandro & Rodriguez, Eduardo & Ibarra-Valdez, Carlos & Alvarez-Ramirez, Jose, 2012. "Efficiency of crude oil markets: Evidences from informational entropy analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 365-373.
    11. Myles M. Dryden, 1968. "Short-Term Forecasting Of Share Prices: An Information Theory Approach," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 15(1), pages 227-249, February.
    12. Fama, Eugene F, 1970. "Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 383-417, May.
    13. repec:clg:wpaper:2007-02 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. LeRoy, Stephen F, 1989. "Efficient Capital Markets and Martingales," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 27(4), pages 1583-1621, December.
    15. Zunino, Luciano & Tabak, Benjamin M. & Serinaldi, Francesco & Zanin, Massimiliano & Pérez, Darío G. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2011. "Commodity predictability analysis with a permutation information theory approach," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 390(5), pages 876-890.
    16. Uritskaya, Olga Y. & Serletis, Apostolos, 2008. "Quantifying multiscale inefficiency in electricity markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 3109-3117, November.
    17. El Hedi Arouri, Mohamed & Huong Dinh, Thanh & Khuong Nguyen, Duc, 2010. "Time-varying predictability in crude-oil markets: the case of GCC countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 4371-4380, August.
    18. May, Anthony D., 2010. "The impact of bond rating changes on corporate bond prices: New evidence from the over-the-counter market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(11), pages 2822-2836, November.
    19. De Micco, L. & González, C.M. & Larrondo, H.A. & Martin, M.T. & Plastino, A. & Rosso, O.A., 2008. "Randomizing nonlinear maps via symbolic dynamics," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(14), pages 3373-3383.
    20. Elton, Edwin J. & Gruber, Martin J. & Agrawal, Deepak & Mann, Christopher, 2004. "Factors affecting the valuation of corporate bonds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(11), pages 2747-2767, November.
    21. Martin, M.T. & Plastino, A. & Rosso, O.A., 2006. "Generalized statistical complexity measures: Geometrical and analytical properties," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 369(2), pages 439-462.
    22. Philippatos, George C. & Nawrocki, David N., 1973. "The behavior of stock market aggregates: Evidence of dependence on the american stock exchange," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 101-114.
    23. Chstoph Bandt & Faten Shiha, 2007. "Order Patterns in Time Series," Journal of Time Series Analysis, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 646-665, September.
    24. Delianedis, Gordon & Geske, Robert, 2001. "The Components of Corporate Credit Spreads: Default, Recovery, Tax, Jumps, Liquidity, and Market Factors," University of California at Los Angeles, Anderson Graduate School of Management qt32x284q3, Anderson Graduate School of Management, UCLA.
    25. Zunino, Luciano & Zanin, Massimiliano & Tabak, Benjamin M. & Pérez, Darío G. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2010. "Complexity-entropy causality plane: A useful approach to quantify the stock market inefficiency," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(9), pages 1891-1901.
    26. repec:clg:wpaper:2008-21 is not listed on IDEAS
    27. Wiston Adrian Risso, 2009. "The informational efficiency: the emerging markets versus the developed markets," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(5), pages 485-487.
    28. Lu, Chia-Wu & Chen, Tsung-Kang & Liao, Hsien-Hsing, 2010. "Information uncertainty, information asymmetry and corporate bond yield spreads," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 2265-2279, September.
    29. Martina, Esteban & Rodriguez, Eduardo & Escarela-Perez, Rafael & Alvarez-Ramirez, Jose, 2011. "Multiscale entropy analysis of crude oil price dynamics," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 936-947, September.
    30. repec:cdl:ucsbec:13-89 is not listed on IDEAS
    31. O. A. Rosso & C. Masoller, 2009. "Detecting and quantifying temporal correlations in stochastic resonance via information theory measures," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 69(1), pages 37-43, May.
    32. Philippatos, George C & Wilson, Charles J, 1974. "Information theory and risk in capital markets," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 523-532, August.
    33. Zunino, Luciano & Fernández Bariviera, Aurelio & Guercio, M. Belén & Martinez, Lisana B. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2012. "On the efficiency of sovereign bond markets," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(18), pages 4342-4349.
    34. Lawrence J. White, 2010. "Markets: The Credit Rating Agencies," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(2), pages 211-226, Spring.
    35. Lamberti, P.W & Martin, M.T & Plastino, A & Rosso, O.A, 2004. "Intensive entropic non-triviality measure," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 334(1), pages 119-131.
    36. Perraudin, William & Taylor, Alex P., 2004. "On the consistency of ratings and bond market yields," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(11), pages 2769-2788, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jiamin Yu, 2021. "Three fundamental problems in risk modeling on big data: an information theory view," Papers 2109.03541, arXiv.org.
    2. Zunino, Luciano & Bariviera, Aurelio F. & Guercio, M. Belén & Martinez, Lisana B. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2016. "Monitoring the informational efficiency of European corporate bond markets with dynamical permutation min-entropy," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 456(C), pages 1-9.
    3. Aurelio Fernández Bariviera & M. Belén Guercio & Lisana B. Martinez, 2014. "Informational Efficiency in Distressed Markets: The Case of European Corporate Bonds," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 45(3), pages 349-369.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bariviera, Aurelio F. & Guercio, M. Belén & Martinez, Lisana B. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2016. "Libor at crossroads: Stochastic switching detection using information theory quantifiers," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 172-182.
    2. Aurelio F. Bariviera & Luciano Zunino & Osvaldo A. Rosso, 2016. "Crude Oil Market And Geopolitical Events: An Analysis Based On Information-Theory-Based Quantifiers," Fuzzy Economic Review, International Association for Fuzzy-set Management and Economy (SIGEF), vol. 21(1), pages 41-51, May.
    3. Aurelio Fernandez Bariviera & María Belén Guercio & Lisana B. Martinez & Osvaldo A. Rosso, 2015. "The (in)visible hand in the Libor market: an information theory approach," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 88(8), pages 1-9, August.
    4. Zunino, Luciano & Bariviera, Aurelio F. & Guercio, M. Belén & Martinez, Lisana B. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2016. "Monitoring the informational efficiency of European corporate bond markets with dynamical permutation min-entropy," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 456(C), pages 1-9.
    5. Argyroudis, George S. & Siokis, Fotios M., 2019. "Spillover effects of Great Recession on Hong-Kong’s Real Estate Market: An analysis based on Causality Plane and Tsallis Curves of Complexity–Entropy," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 524(C), pages 576-586.
    6. Aurelio Fernandez Bariviera & M. Bel'en Guercio & Lisana B. Martinez, 2015. "Data manipulation detection via permutation information theory quantifiers," Papers 1501.04123, arXiv.org.
    7. Sensoy, Ahmet & Hacihasanoglu, Erk, 2014. "Time-varying long range dependence in energy futures markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 318-327.
    8. Kristoufek, Ladislav & Vosvrda, Miloslav, 2014. "Commodity futures and market efficiency," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 50-57.
    9. Zunino, Luciano & Zanin, Massimiliano & Tabak, Benjamin M. & Pérez, Darío G. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2010. "Complexity-entropy causality plane: A useful approach to quantify the stock market inefficiency," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(9), pages 1891-1901.
    10. Siokis, Fotios M., 2018. "Credit market Jitters in the course of the financial crisis: A permutation entropy approach in measuring informational efficiency in financial assets," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 499(C), pages 266-275.
    11. Aurelio F. Bariviera & Luciano Zunino & Osvaldo A. Rosso, 2018. "An analysis of high-frequency cryptocurrencies prices dynamics using permutation-information-theory quantifiers," Papers 1808.01926, arXiv.org.
    12. Ortiz-Cruz, Alejandro & Rodriguez, Eduardo & Ibarra-Valdez, Carlos & Alvarez-Ramirez, Jose, 2012. "Efficiency of crude oil markets: Evidences from informational entropy analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 365-373.
    13. Bariviera, Aurelio F. & Font-Ferrer, Alejandro & Sorrosal-Forradellas, M. Teresa & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2019. "An information theory perspective on the informational efficiency of gold price," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    14. Zunino, Luciano & Tabak, Benjamin M. & Serinaldi, Francesco & Zanin, Massimiliano & Pérez, Darío G. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2011. "Commodity predictability analysis with a permutation information theory approach," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 390(5), pages 876-890.
    15. De Micco, Luciana & Fernández, Juana Graciela & Larrondo, Hilda A. & Plastino, Angelo & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2012. "Sampling period, statistical complexity, and chaotic attractors," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(8), pages 2564-2575.
    16. Arshad, Shaista & Rizvi, Syed Aun R. & Haroon, Omair & Mehmood, Fahad & Gong, Qiang, 2021. "Are oil prices efficient?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 362-370.
    17. Rosso, Osvaldo A. & Carpi, Laura C. & Saco, Patricia M. & Gómez Ravetti, Martín & Plastino, Angelo & Larrondo, Hilda A., 2012. "Causality and the entropy–complexity plane: Robustness and missing ordinal patterns," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(1), pages 42-55.
    18. Martina, Esteban & Rodriguez, Eduardo & Escarela-Perez, Rafael & Alvarez-Ramirez, Jose, 2011. "Multiscale entropy analysis of crude oil price dynamics," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 936-947, September.
    19. Zunino, Luciano & Ribeiro, Haroldo V., 2016. "Discriminating image textures with the multiscale two-dimensional complexity-entropy causality plane," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 679-688.
    20. Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Umar, Zaghum & Alqahtani, Faisal, 2021. "Existence of long memory in crude oil and petroleum products: Generalised Hurst exponent approach," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1509.01839. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.