IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/jgu/wpaper/1416.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Why Rating Agencies Disagree on Sovereign Ratings

Author

Listed:
  • Bernd Bartels

    (Department of Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universitaet Mainz, Germany)

Abstract

We empirically analyze why rating agencies disagree on countries' default risk. Specifically, we explore the sovereign ratings of four agencies and their interaction. Our results indicate that the frequency of split ratings and their lopsidedness is not related to their home region. We nevertheless nd that rating agencies treat world regions differently. The Big Three rating agencies tend to follow each other predominantly in times of crises. The smaller European agency seems to b e more independent but also more volatile in its rating behaviour.

Suggested Citation

  • Bernd Bartels, 2014. "Why Rating Agencies Disagree on Sovereign Ratings," Working Papers 1416, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, revised 02 Dec 2014.
    • Handle: RePEc:jgu:wpaper:1416
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://download.uni-mainz.de/RePEc/pdf/Discussion_Paper_1416.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2014
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bertrand Candelon & Mr. Amadou N Sy & Mr. Rabah Arezki, 2011. "Sovereign Rating News and Financial Markets Spillovers: Evidence from the European Debt Crisis," IMF Working Papers 2011/068, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Andreas Fuchs & Kai Gehring, 2017. "The Home Bias in Sovereign Ratings," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 15(6), pages 1386-1423.
    3. repec:kap:iaecre:v:17:y:2011:i:3:p:288-299 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Borensztein, Eduardo & Cowan, Kevin & Valenzuela, Patricio, 2013. "Sovereign ceilings “lite”? The impact of sovereign ratings on corporate ratings," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4014-4024.
    5. Arnoud W. A. Boot & Todd T. Milbourn & Anjolein Schmeits, 2006. "Credit Ratings as Coordination Mechanisms," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(1), pages 81-118.
    6. António Afonso & Pedro Gomes & Philipp Rother, 2011. "Short‐ and long‐run determinants of sovereign debt credit ratings," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, January.
    7. Weder di Mauro, Beatrice & Bartels, Bernhard, 2013. "A Rating Agency for Europe ? A good idea?," CEPR Discussion Papers 9512, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Kaufmann, Daniel & Kraay, Aart & Mastruzzi, Massimo, 2010. "The worldwide governance indicators : methodology and analytical issues," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5430, The World Bank.
    9. Manfred Gärtner & Björn Griesbach & Florian Jung, 2011. "PIGS or Lambs? The European Sovereign Debt Crisis and the Role of Rating Agencies," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 17(3), pages 288-299, August.
    10. G. Ferri & L.-G. Liu & J. E. Stiglitz, 1999. "The Procyclical Role of Rating Agencies: Evidence from the East Asian Crisis," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 28(3), pages 335-355, November.
    11. Miles Livingston & Andy Naranjo & Lei Zhou, 2007. "Asset Opaqueness and Split Bond Ratings," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 36(3), pages 49-62, September.
    12. Richard Cantor & Frank Packer, 1996. "Determinants and impact of sovereign credit ratings," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 2(Oct), pages 37-53.
    13. Donald P. Morgan, 2002. "Rating Banks: Risk and Uncertainty in an Opaque Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 874-888, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Bernhard Bartels, 2019. "Why rating agencies disagree on sovereign ratings," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 57(5), pages 1677-1703, November.
    2. Salvador, Carlos & Fernández de Guevara, Juan & Pastor, José Manuel, 2018. "The adjustment of bank ratings in the financial crisis: International evidence," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 289-313.
    3. Agnello, Luca & Castro, Vítor & Sousa, Ricardo M., 2021. "On the duration of sovereign ratings cycle phases," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 512-526.
    4. De Moor, Lieven & Luitel, Prabesh & Sercu, Piet & Vanpée, Rosanne, 2018. "Subjectivity in sovereign credit ratings," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 366-392.
    5. 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.
    6. Bernal, Oscar & Girard, Alexandre & Gnabo, Jean-Yves, 2016. "The importance of conflicts of interest in attributing sovereign credit ratings," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 48-66.
    7. Cuadros-Solas, Pedro Jesús & Salvador Muñoz, Carlos, 2022. "Disentangling the sources of sovereign rating adjustments: An examination of changes in rating policies following the GFC," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    8. Ioannou, Stefanos & Wójcik, Dariusz & Pažitka, Vladimír, 2021. "Financial centre bias in sub-sovereign credit ratings," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    9. Dähler, Timo, 2020. "Bias or ignorance? The politics and economics behind sovereign credit ratings," MPRA Paper 103965, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. El-Shagi, Makram & Schweinitz, Gregor von, 2018. "The joint dynamics of sovereign ratings and government bond yields," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 198-218.
    11. Rosati, Nicoletta & Bellia, Mario & Matos, Pedro Verga & Oliveira, Vasco, 2020. "Ratings matter: Announcements in times of crisis and the dynamics of stock markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    12. Manfred G?rtner & Bj?rn Griesbach, 2017. "Rating Agencies, Self-Fulfilling Prophecy and Multiple Equilibria? An Empirical Model of the European Sovereign Debt Crisis 2009-2011," Business and Economic Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 7(1), pages 199-226, June.
    13. Dang, Huong & Partington, Graham, 2020. "Sovereign ratings and national culture," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    14. Freitag L., 2014. "Default probabilities, CDS premiums and downgrades : A probit-MIDAS analysis," Research Memorandum 038, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    15. Panos Gavras & Sofoklis D. Vogiazas & Maria Koura, 2016. "An Empirical Assessment of Sovereign Country Risk in the Black Sea Region," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 22(1), pages 77-93, February.
    16. Johannes W. Fedderke, 2013. "Promotion and Relegation between Country Risk Classes as Maintained by Country Risk Rating Agencies," Working Papers 376, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    17. Hill, Paula & Bissoondoyal-Bheenick, Emawtee & Faff, Robert, 2018. "New evidence on sovereign to corporate credit rating spill-overs," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 209-225.
    18. Weder di Mauro, Beatrice & Bartels, Bernhard, 2013. "A Rating Agency for Europe ? A good idea?," CEPR Discussion Papers 9512, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Ben Hmiden, Oussama & Tatoutchoup, Didier & Nguimkeu, Pierre & Avelé, Donatien, 2024. "Discrepancy and cross-regional bias in sovereign credit ratings: Analyzing the role of public debt," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    20. Stefanos Ioannou, 2017. "Credit Rating Downgrades and Sudden Stops of Capital Flows in the Eurozone," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 8(03), pages 1-36, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sovereign Risk; European Rating Agency; Rating Agencies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • F34 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Lending and Debt Problems

    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:jgu:wpaper:1416. 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: Research Unit IPP (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vlmaide.html .

    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.