IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecofin/v51y2020ics1062940818302158.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sovereign credit rating: Evidence of bias against poor countries

Author

Listed:
  • Tennant, David F.
  • Tracey, Marlon R.
  • King, Damien W.

Abstract

We assess whether credit rating agencies limit poor countries’ sovereign credit ratings. Consistent with prior studies, our heterogeneous middle-inflated ordered probit model indicates a statistical bias stacked against poor countries whenever their fundamentals change. This is important, as second-generation crisis models suggest that such biases can have self-fulfilling consequences.

Suggested Citation

  • Tennant, David F. & Tracey, Marlon R. & King, Damien W., 2020. "Sovereign credit rating: Evidence of bias against poor countries," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecofin:v:51:y:2020:i:c:s1062940818302158
    DOI: 10.1016/j.najef.2018.11.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1062940818302158
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.najef.2018.11.006?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. Blot, Christophe & Ducoudré, Bruno & Timbeau, Xavier, 2016. "Sovereign debt spread and default in a model with self-fulfilling prophecies and asymmetric information," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB), pages 281-299.
    2. Jie He & Jun Qian & Philip E. Strahan, 2011. "Credit Ratings and the Evolution of the Mortgage-Backed Securities Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 131-135, May.
    3. Graciela Kaminsky & Sergio L. Schmukler, 2002. "Emerging Market Instability: Do Sovereign Ratings Affect Country Risk and Stock Returns?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 16(2), pages 171-195, August.
    4. Greene,William H. & Hensher,David A., 2010. "Modeling Ordered Choices," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521194204, September.
    5. Obstfeld, Maurice, 1996. "Models of currency crises with self-fulfilling features," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-5), pages 1037-1047, April.
    6. Stefan Boes & Rainer Winkelmann, 2006. "Ordered Response Models," Springer Books, in: Olaf Hübler & Jachim Frohn (ed.), Modern Econometric Analysis, chapter 12, pages 167-181, Springer.
    7. Bagozzi, Benjamin E. & Mukherjee, Bumba, 2012. "A Mixture Model for Middle Category Inflation in Ordered Survey Responses," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(3), pages 369-386, July.
    8. Ronald A Johnson & Venkat Srinivasan & Paul J Bolster, 1990. "Sovereign Debt Ratings: A Judgmental Model Based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 21(1), pages 95-117, March.
    9. Derya Gültekin-Karakaş & Mehtap Hisarcıklılar & Hüseyin Öztürk, 2011. "Sovereign Risk Ratings: Biased Toward Developed Countries?," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(0), pages 69-87, May.
    10. Ferri, Giovanni & Liu, Li-Gang & Majnoni, Giovanni, 2001. "The role of rating agency assessments in less developed countries: Impact of the proposed Basel guidelines," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 115-148, January.
    11. Alexander W. Butler & Larry Fauver, 2006. "Institutional Environment and Sovereign Credit Ratings," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 35(3), pages 53-79, September.
    12. Ferri, Giovanni, 2004. "More analysts, better ratings: Do rating agencies invest enough in less developed countries?," Journal of Applied Economics, Universidad del CEMA, vol. 7(1), pages 1-22, May.
    13. Sachs, Jeffrey & Tornell, Aaron & Velasco, Andres, 1996. "The Mexican peso crisis: Sudden death or death foretold?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3-4), pages 265-283, November.
    14. Altman, Edward I. & Rijken, Herbert A., 2004. "How rating agencies achieve rating stability," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(11), pages 2679-2714, November.
    15. Huseyin Ozturk*, 2014. "The origin of bias in sovereign credit ratings: reconciling agency views with institutional quality," Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, College of Business, vol. 48(4), pages 161-188, October-D.
    16. Antonio Afonso & Pedro Gomes & Philipp Rother, 2009. "Ordered response models for sovereign debt ratings," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(8), pages 769-773.
    17. repec:bla:intfin:v:2:y:1999:i:2:p:273-93 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Mariano, Beatriz, 2012. "Market power and reputational concerns in the ratings industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1616-1626.
    19. John M. Griffin & Dragon Yongjun Tang, 2011. "Did Credit Rating Agencies Make Unbiased Assumptions on CDOs?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 125-130, May.
    20. Mora, Nada, 2006. "Sovereign credit ratings: Guilty beyond reasonable doubt?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 2041-2062, July.
    21. Seung Jung Lee, 2009. "How Information Quality of Macro Aggregates Affects Sovereign Risk: An Empirical Investigation," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(3), pages 510-532, August.
    22. 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.
    23. Helmut Reisen & Julia Von Maltzan, 1999. "Boom and Bust and Sovereign Ratings," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(2), pages 273-293, July.
    24. 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.
    25. S M Ali Abbas & Nazim Belhocine & Asmaa El-Ganainy & Mark Horton, 2011. "Historical Patterns and Dynamics of Public Debt—Evidence From a New Database," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 59(4), pages 717-742, November.
    26. David F. Tennant & Marlon R. Tracey, 2016. "Sovereign Debt and Credit Rating Bias," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-39150-6, December.
    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. 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).
    2. 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).
    3. Colin Ellis, 2022. "Are Sovereign Ratings Biased Against Africa?," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 9(1), pages 29-36, December.

    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. 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.
    2. 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).
    3. 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).
    4. Nicolas Jannone Bellot, MaLuisa Marti Selva, Leandro Garcia Menendez, 2017. "Herding Behaviour among Credit Rating Agencies," Journal of Finance and Economics Research, Geist Science, Iqra University, Faculty of Business Administration, vol. 2(1), pages 56-83, March.
    5. Hantzsche, Arno, 2022. "Fiscal uncertainty and sovereign credit risk," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    6. Zoran Ivanovic & Sinisa Bogdan & Suzana Baresa, 2015. "Modeling and Estimating Shadow Sovereign Ratings," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 9(3), September.
    7. Jan Bruha & Moritz Karber & Beatrice Pierluigi & Ralph Setzer, 2017. "Understanding Rating Movements in Euro Area Countries," Working Papers 2017/06, Czech National Bank.
    8. Slapnik, Ursula & Lončarski, Igor, 2023. "Understanding sovereign credit ratings: Text-based evidence from the credit rating reports," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    9. Pierluigi, Beatrice & Brůha, Jan & Setzer, Ralph & Karber, Moritz, 2017. "Understanding sovereign rating movements in euro area countries," Working Paper Series 2011, European Central Bank.
    10. Slapnik, Ursula & Lončarski, Igor, 2021. "On the information content of sovereign credit rating reports: Improving the predictability of rating transitions☆," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. Schumacher, Ingmar, 2014. "On the self-fulfilling prophecy of changes in sovereign ratings," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 351-356.
    14. Purificacion Parrado-Martinez & Antonio Parta Ureña & Pilar Gomez Fernandez-Aguado, 2014. "Usefulness of Financial Soundness Indicators for risk assessment: The case of EU member countries," Working Papers 14.01, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Financial Economics and Accounting (former Department of Business Administration).
    15. 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.
    16. Broto, Carmen & Molina, Luis, 2016. "Sovereign ratings and their asymmetric response to fundamentals," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 206-224.
    17. Chen, Sheng-Syan & Chen, Hsien-Yi & Chang, Chong-Chuo & Yang, Shu-Ling, 2016. "The relation between sovereign credit rating revisions and economic growth," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 90-100.
    18. Cuadros-Solas, Pedro J. & Salvador, Carlos & Suárez, Nuria, 2021. "Am I riskier if I rescue my banks? Beyond the effects of bailouts," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    19. Davor Kunovac & Rafael Ravnik, 2017. "Are Sovereign Credit Ratings Overrated?," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 59(2), pages 210-242, June.
    20. Salvador, Carlos & Pastor, Jose Manuel & Fernández de Guevara, Juan, 2014. "Impact of the subprime crisis on bank ratings: The effect of the hardening of rating policies and worsening of solvency," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 11(C), pages 13-31.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Credit rating agencies; Sovereign debt; Developing countries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
    • F33 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions

    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:ecofin:v:51:y:2020:i:c:s1062940818302158. 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/620163 .

    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.