IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfinec/v114y2014i2p293-315.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Did going public impair Moody׳s credit ratings?

Author

Listed:
  • Kedia, Simi
  • Rajgopal, Shivaram
  • Zhou, Xing

Abstract

We investigate a prominent allegation in congressional hearings that Moody׳s loosened its rating standards to chase revenue after it went public in 2000. Consistent with this allegation, Moody׳s ratings for both corporate bonds and structured finance products are significantly more favorable to issuers, relative to S&P׳s, after Moody׳s IPO. Moreover, Moody׳s ratings are more favorable for clients subject to greater conflict of interest. There is little evidence that Moody׳s higher ratings, post-IPO, are more informative, measured as expected default frequencies (EDFs) or as the probability of default. Our findings inform the debate on whether financial gatekeepers should be publicly traded.

Suggested Citation

  • Kedia, Simi & Rajgopal, Shivaram & Zhou, Xing, 2014. "Did going public impair Moody׳s credit ratings?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(2), pages 293-315.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:114:y:2014:i:2:p:293-315
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2014.07.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304405X14001524
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jfineco.2014.07.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Duffie, Darrell & Saita, Leandro & Wang, Ke, 2007. "Multi-period corporate default prediction with stochastic covariates," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(3), pages 635-665, March.
    2. Patrick Bolton & Xavier Freixas & Joel Shapiro, 2012. "The Credit Ratings Game," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(1), pages 85-112, February.
    3. Jeremy C. Stein, 1989. "Efficient Capital Markets, Inefficient Firms: A Model of Myopic Corporate Behavior," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 104(4), pages 655-669.
    4. Lamont, Owen, 1997. "Cash Flow and Investment: Evidence from Internal Capital Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 83-109, March.
    5. Jie (Jack) He & Jun (Qj) Qian & Philip E. Strahan, 2012. "Are All Ratings Created Equal? The Impact of Issuer Size on the Pricing of Mortgage-Backed Securities," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(6), pages 2097-2137, December.
    6. Ellul, Andrew & Jotikasthira, Chotibhak & Lundblad, Christian T., 2011. "Regulatory pressure and fire sales in the corporate bond market," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 596-620, September.
    7. Marshall E. Blume & Felix Lim & A. Craig Mackinlay, 1998. "The Declining Credit Quality of U.S. Corporate Debt: Myth or Reality?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(4), pages 1389-1413, August.
    8. Dion Bongaerts & K. J. Martijn Cremers & William N. Goetzmann, 2012. "Tiebreaker: Certification and Multiple Credit Ratings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(1), pages 113-152, February.
    9. Fee, C. Edward & Hadlock, Charles J., 2004. "Management turnover across the corporate hierarchy," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 3-38, February.
    10. Raghuram Rajan & Henri Servaes & Luigi Zingales, 2000. "The Cost of Diversity: The Diversification Discount and Inefficient Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 35-80, February.
    11. Marshall E. Blume & Felix Lim & A. Craig MacKinlay, "undated". "The Declining Credit Quality of US Corporate Debt: Myth or Reality?," Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research Working Papers 03-98, Wharton School Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research.
    12. Nianyun (Kelly) Cai & Jean Helwege & Arthur Warga, 2007. "Underpricing in the Corporate Bond Market," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(6), pages 2021-2046, November.
    13. Mathis, Jérôme & McAndrews, James & Rochet, Jean-Charles, 2009. "Rating the raters: Are reputation concerns powerful enough to discipline rating agencies?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(5), pages 657-674, July.
    14. Dechow, Patricia M. & Sloan, Richard G., 1991. "Executive incentives and the horizon problem : An empirical investigation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 51-89, March.
    15. Darren J. Kisgen & Philip E. Strahan, 2010. "Do Regulations Based on Credit Ratings Affect a Firm's Cost of Capital?," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(12), pages 4324-4347, December.
    16. Becker, Bo & Milbourn, Todd, 2011. "How did increased competition affect credit ratings?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 493-514, September.
    17. Roychowdhury, Sugata, 2006. "Earnings management through real activities manipulation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 335-370, December.
    18. Jeremy C. Stein, 2002. "Information Production and Capital Allocation: Decentralized versus Hierarchical Firms," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(5), pages 1891-1921, October.
    19. John Asker & Joan Farre-Mensa & Alexander Ljungqvist, 2011. "Comparing the Investment Behavior of Public and Private Firms," NBER Working Papers 17394, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    21. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2005. "The economic implications of corporate financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1-3), pages 3-73, December.
    22. David S. Scharfstein & Jeremy C. Stein, 2000. "The Dark Side of Internal Capital Markets: Divisional Rent‐Seeking and Inefficient Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(6), pages 2537-2564, December.
    23. Marco Pagano & Fabio Panetta & and Luigi Zingales, 1998. "Why Do Companies Go Public? An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(1), pages 27-64, February.
    24. Jorion, Philippe & Liu, Zhu & Shi, Charles, 2005. "Informational effects of regulation FD: evidence from rating agencies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 309-330, May.
    25. Marshall E. Blume & Felix Lim & A. Craig MacKinlay, "undated". "The Declining Credit Quality of US Corporate Debt: Myth or Reality?," Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research Working Papers 3-98, Wharton School Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research.
    26. Aysun Alp, 2013. "Structural Shifts in Credit Rating Standards," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(6), pages 2435-2470, December.
    27. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    28. Craig J. Chapman & Thomas J. Steenburgh, 2011. "An Investigation of Earnings Management Through Marketing Actions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(1), pages 72-92, January.
    29. Holmstrom, Bengt & Milgrom, Paul, 1991. "Multitask Principal-Agent Analyses: Incentive Contracts, Asset Ownership, and Job Design," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(0), pages 24-52, Special I.
    30. John M. Griffin & Dragon Yongjun Tang, 2012. "Did Subjectivity Play a Role in CDO Credit Ratings?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(4), pages 1293-1328, August.
    31. Hendrik Bessembinder & Kathleen M. Kahle & William F. Maxwell & Danielle Xu, 2009. "Measuring Abnormal Bond Performance," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(10), pages 4219-4258, October.
    32. Anthony Saunders & Sascha Steffen, 2011. "The Costs of Being Private: Evidence from the Loan Market," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(12), pages 4091-4122.
    33. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R., 2001. "The theory and practice of corporate finance: evidence from the field," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2-3), pages 187-243, May.
    34. Darren J. Kisgen, 2006. "Credit Ratings and Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(3), pages 1035-1072, June.
    35. Alan D. Morrison & William J. Wilhelm, 2008. "The Demise of Investment Banking Partnerships: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(1), pages 311-350, February.
    36. Pinches, George E & Mingo, Kent A, 1973. "A Multivariate Analysis of Industrial Bond Ratings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 28(1), pages 1-18, March.
    37. SANJEEV BHOJRAJ & PAUL HRIBAR & MARC PICCONI & JOHN McINNIS, 2009. "Making Sense of Cents: An Examination of Firms That Marginally Miss or Beat Analyst Forecasts," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 2361-2388, October.
    38. Bhide, Amar, 1993. "The hidden costs of stock market liquidity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 31-51, August.
    39. Jiang, John (Xuefeng) & Harris Stanford, Mary & Xie, Yuan, 2012. "Does it matter who pays for bond ratings? Historical evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(3), pages 607-621.
    40. Kaplan, Robert S & Urwitz, Gabriel, 1979. "Statistical Models of Bond Ratings: A Methodological Inquiry," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52(2), pages 231-261, April.
    41. Jess Cornaggia & Kimberly J. Cornaggia, 2013. "Estimating the Costs of Issuer-Paid Credit Ratings," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(9), pages 2229-2269.
    42. Berry, Tammy K. & Bizjak, John M. & Lemmon, Michael L. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2006. "Organizational complexity and CEO labor markets: Evidence from diversified firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 797-817, September.
    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. Nanda, Vikram & Wu, Wei & Zhou, Xing (Alex), 2019. "Investment Commonality across Insurance Companies: Fire Sale Risk and Corporate Yield Spreads," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(6), pages 2543-2574, December.
    2. Anne Beatty & Jacquelyn Gillette & Reining Petacchi & Joseph Weber, 2019. "Do Rating Agencies Benefit from Providing Higher Ratings? Evidence from the Consequences of Municipal Bond Ratings Recalibration," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(2), pages 323-354, May.
    3. Bhattacharya, Utpal & Wei, Kelsey D. & Xia, Han, 2019. "Follow the money: Investor trading around investor-paid credit rating changes," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 68-91.
    4. Luitel, Prabesh & Vanpée, Rosanne & De Moor, Lieven, 2016. "Pernicious effects: How the credit rating agencies disadvantage emerging markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 286-298.
    5. Lagoarde-Segot, Thomas, 2017. "Financialization: Towards a new research agenda," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 113-123.
    6. Agoraki, Maria-Eleni & Gounopoulos, Dimitrios & Kouretas, Georgios P., 2021. "Market expectations and the impact of credit rating on the IPOs of U.S. banks," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 587-610.
    7. Kedia, Simi & Rajgopal, Shivaram & Zhou, Xing (Alex), 2017. "Large shareholders and credit ratings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(3), pages 632-653.
    8. Hung, Mingyi & Kraft, Pepa & Wang, Shiheng & Yu, Gwen, 2022. "Market power and credit rating standards: Global evidence," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2).
    9. Altdörfer, Marc & De las Salas Vega, Carlos A. & Guettler, Andre & Löffler, Gunter, 2019. "The case for a European rating agency: Evidence from the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1-18.
    10. Goergen, Marc & Gounopoulos, Dimitrios & Koutroumpis, Panagiotis, 2021. "Do multiple credit ratings reduce money left on the table? Evidence from U.S. IPOs," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    11. Sun, Lin & Teo, Melvyn, 2019. "Public hedge funds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(1), pages 44-60.
    12. Leo Tang & Marietta Peytcheva & Pei Li, 2020. "Investor-Paid Ratings and Conflicts of Interest," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 365-378, May.
    13. Hu, Xiaolu & Huang, Haozhi & Pan, Zheyao & Shi, Jing, 2019. "Information asymmetry and credit rating: A quasi-natural experiment from China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 132-152.
    14. Altdörfer, Marc & de las Salas Vega, Carlos A. & Guettler, Andre & Löffler, Gunter, 2016. "European versus Anglo-Saxon credit view: Evidence from the eurozone sovereign debt crisis," IWH Discussion Papers 34/2016, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    15. Jing Liu & Ilhyock Shim & Yanfeng Zheng, 2023. "Absolute blockchain strength? Evidence from the ABS market in China," BIS Working Papers 1116, Bank for International Settlements.
    16. Samuel B. Bonsall & Kevin Koharki & Pepa Kraft & Karl A. Muller & Anywhere Sikochi, 2023. "Do Rating Agencies Behave Defensively for Higher Risk Issuers?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(8), pages 4864-4887, August.
    17. Haozhi Huang & Mingsheng Li & Jing Shi, 2020. "Should Financial Gatekeepers be Publicly Traded?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 175-200, June.
    18. Baker, H. Kent & Dutta, Shantanu & Saadi, Samir & Zhong, Ligang, 2022. "Does media coverage affect credit rating change decisions?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).

    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. Kedia, Simi & Rajgopal, Shivaram & Zhou, Xing (Alex), 2017. "Large shareholders and credit ratings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(3), pages 632-653.
    2. Xia, Han, 2014. "Can investor-paid credit rating agencies improve the information quality of issuer-paid rating agencies?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 450-468.
    3. Nanda, Vikram & Wu, Wei & Zhou, Xing (Alex), 2019. "Investment Commonality across Insurance Companies: Fire Sale Risk and Corporate Yield Spreads," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(6), pages 2543-2574, December.
    4. Lawrence J. White, 2013. "Credit Rating Agencies: An Overview," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 93-122, November.
    5. Kisgen, Darren J. & Nickerson, Jordan & Osborn, Matthew & Reuter, Jonathan, 2020. "Analyst Promotions within Credit Rating Agencies: Accuracy or Bias?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(3), pages 869-896, May.
    6. Valentina Bruno & Jess Cornaggia & Kimberly J. Cornaggia, 2016. "Does Regulatory Certification Affect the Information Content of Credit Ratings?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(6), pages 1578-1597, June.
    7. Tao Wang, 2016. "Time-Varying Rating Standards and the Distorted Incentives of Credit Rating Agencies," Global Credit Review (GCR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 6(01), pages 21-39.
    8. Berwart, Erik & Guidolin, Massimo & Milidonis, Andreas, 2019. "An empirical analysis of changes in the relative timeliness of issuer-paid vs. investor-paid ratings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 88-118.
    9. Cornaggia, Jess & Cornaggia, Kimberly J. & Xia, Han, 2016. "Revolving doors on Wall Street," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(2), pages 400-419.
    10. Gerald J. Lobo & Luc Paugam & Hervé Stolowy & Pierre Astolfi, 2017. "The Effect of Business and Financial Market Cycles on Credit Ratings: Evidence from the Last Two Decades," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 53(1), pages 59-93, March.
    11. Jess N. Cornaggia & Kimberly J. Cornaggia & John E. Hund, 2017. "Credit Ratings Across Asset Classes: A Long-Term Perspective," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 21(2), pages 465-509.
    12. Attig, Najah & Driss, Hamdi & El Ghoul, Sadok, 2021. "Credit ratings quality in uncertain times," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    13. Attig, Najah & Driss, Hamdi & El Ghoul, Sadok, 2020. "Rating standards around the world: A puzzle?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    14. Patrick Behr & Darren J. Kisgen & Jérôme P. Taillard, 2018. "Did Government Regulations Lead to Inflated Credit Ratings?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(3), pages 1034-1054, March.
    15. Bae, Kee-Hong & Driss, Hamdi & Roberts, Gordon S., 2019. "Does competition affect ratings quality? Evidence from Canadian corporate bonds," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 605-623.
    16. Dong Chen, 2014. "The Non-monotonic Effect of Board Independence on Credit Ratings," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 145-171, April.
    17. Kraft, Pepa & Xie, Yuan & Zhou, Ling, 2020. "The intraday timing of rating changes," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    18. Anna Bayona & Oana Peia & Razvan Vlahu, 2023. "Credit Ratings and Investments," Working Papers 776, DNB.
    19. Chandan Sharma & Archana Singh & Rajan Yadav, 2023. "Impact of Competition in Credit Rating Industry: Evidence From India," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440221, January.
    20. Abad, Pilar & Ferreras, Rodrigo & Robles, M-Dolores, 2019. "Informational role of rating revisions after reputational events and regulation reforms," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 91-103.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Credit ratings; Initial public offering (IPO); Moody׳s;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • L32 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Public Enterprises; Public-Private Enterprises

    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:eee:jfinec:v:114:y:2014:i:2:p:293-315. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505576 .

    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.