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More Analysts, Better Ratings: Do Rating Agencies Invest Enough in Less Developed Countries?

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  • Giovanni Ferri

Abstract

Rating agencies' track record is good in developed countries but poor in emerging economies. Why? Given the almost-monopolistic structure of the industry, we conjecture that agencies might underinvest in information gathering. We propose an indicator quantifying the agencies' effort to gather information and assess whether greater effort affects rating levels. We detect: (i) absolute underinvestment for non-OECD sovereigns (less effort in spite of greater opaqueness); (ii) relative underinvestment for non-OECD firms compared with OECD ones (though the former receive a larger effort, more intense effort boosts firm ratings in non-OECD countries while depressing them in OECD countries).

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  • Giovanni Ferri, 2004. "More Analysts, Better Ratings: Do Rating Agencies Invest Enough in Less Developed Countries?," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 77-98, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:recsxx:v:7:y:2004:i:1:p:77-98
    DOI: 10.1080/15140326.2004.12040604
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    4. Giovanni Ferri & Li-Gang Liu, 2003. "How Do Global Credit-Rating Agencies Rate Firms from Developing Countries?," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 2(3), pages 30-56.
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    Cited by:

    1. Vincenzo D’Apice & Giovanni Ferri & Punziana Lacitignola, 2016. "Rating Performance and Bank Business Models: Is There a Change with the 2007–2009 Crisis?," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 2(3), pages 385-420, November.
    2. Elizabeth Asiedu & James Freeman, 2009. "The Effect of Corruption on Investment Growth: Evidence from Firms in Latin America, Sub‐Saharan Africa, and Transition Countries," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(2), pages 200-214, May.
    3. Mohamed Lamine MBENGUE, 2013. "Does Corruption Increase the risk Premium on the West African Economic Monetary Union (WAEMU) Bond Market?," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 5(3), pages 129-135.
    4. Asiedu, Elizabeth & Jin, Yi & Nandwa, Boaz, 2009. "Does foreign aid mitigate the adverse effect of expropriation risk on foreign direct investment?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 268-275, July.
    5. Hartarska, Valentina M., 2006. "Rating in Microfinance: Cross-Country Evidence," 2006 Annual Meeting, August 12-18, 2006, Queensland, Australia 25506, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Giovanni Ferri & Punziana Lacuitignola, 2010. "Does Europe Need Its Own Rating Agencies?," SERIES 0033, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza - Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", revised Jul 2010.
    7. Hartarska, Valentina & Nadolnyak, Denis, 2008. "Does rating help microfinance institutions raise funds? Cross-country evidence," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 558-571, October.
    8. 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).
    9. Giovanni Ferri & Andrea Morone, 2014. "The effect of rating agencies on herd behaviour," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 9(1), pages 107-127, April.
    10. 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.
    11. Andrzej Cieslik & Lukasz Goczek, 2015. "On The Evolution Of Corruption Patterns In The Post-Communist Countries," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 10(1), pages 33-53, March.
    12. Mattarocci, Gianluca, 2005. "Il rapporto tra impresa e agenzia di rating: la soluzione del multi-rating," MPRA Paper 4295, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Mar 2005.
    13. Giovanni Ferri & Li-Gang Liu, 2003. "How Do Global Credit-Rating Agencies Rate Firms from Developing Countries?," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 2(3), pages 30-56.
    14. Thomas Lagner & Dodozu Knyphausen‐Aufseß, 2012. "Rating Agencies as Gatekeepers to the Capital Market: Practical Implications of 40 Years of Research," Financial Markets, Institutions & Instruments, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(3), pages 157-202, August.
    15. Alexandra M. Tabova, 2013. "Portfolio diversification and the cross-sectional distribution of foreign investment," International Finance Discussion Papers 1091, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    16. Hubert Tchakoute Tchuigoua, 2015. "Capital Structure of Microfinance Institutions," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 47(3), pages 313-340, June.

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    JEL classification:

    • G2 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services
    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance

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