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Credit Ratings Failures and Policy Options

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  • Pagano, Marco
  • Volpin, Paolo

Abstract

This paper examines the role of credit rating agencies in the subprime crisis that triggered the 2007-08 financial turmoil. The focus of the paper is on two aspects of ratings that contributed to the boom and bust of the market for asset-backed securities: rating inflation and coarse information disclosure. The paper discusses how regulation can be designed to mitigate these problems in the future. The suggestion is that regulators should require rating agencies to be paid by investors rather than by issuers (or at least constrain the way they are paid by issuers) and force greater disclosure of information about the underlying pool of securities.

Suggested Citation

  • Pagano, Marco & Volpin, Paolo, 2009. "Credit Ratings Failures and Policy Options," CEPR Discussion Papers 7556, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7556
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary Gorton, 2008. "The panic of 2007," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 131-262.
    2. Skreta, Vasiliki & Veldkamp, Laura, 2009. "Ratings shopping and asset complexity: A theory of ratings inflation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(5), pages 678-695, July.
    3. Bo Becker & Todd Milbourn, 2008. "Reputation and competition: evidence from the credit rating industry," Harvard Business School Working Papers 09-051, Harvard Business School, revised Sep 2010.
    4. Patrick Bolton & Xavier Freixas & Joel Shapiro, 2012. "The Credit Ratings Game," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(1), pages 85-112, February.
    5. Markus K. Brunnermeier, 2008. "Deciphering the Liquidity and Credit Crunch 2007-08," NBER Working Papers 14612, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Bank for International Settlements, 2008. "Ratings in structured finance: what went wrong and what can be done to address shortcomings?," CGFS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 32, december.
    7. Marco Pagano & Paolo Volpin, 2012. "Securitization, Transparency, and Liquidity," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(8), pages 2417-2453.
    8. 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.
    9. Kavajecz, Kenneth A. & Keim, Donald B., 2005. "Packaging Liquidity: Blind Auctions and Transaction Efficiencies," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(3), pages 465-492, September.
    10. Benjamin J. Keys & Tanmoy Mukherjee & Amit Seru & Vikrant Vig, 2010. "Did Securitization Lead to Lax Screening? Evidence from Subprime Loans," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(1), pages 307-362.
    11. Ashcraft, Adam B. & Schuermann, Til, 2008. "Understanding the Securitization of Subprime Mortgage Credit," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 2(3), pages 191-309, June.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Credit rating agencies; Crisis; Default; Liquidity; Securitization; Transparenccy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages

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