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Credit rating agencies and the sovereign debt crisis: Performing the politics of creditworthiness through risk and uncertainty

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  • Bartholomew Paudyn

Abstract

As member states struggle to retain the investment grades necessary to allow them to finance their governmental operations at a reasonable cost, credit rating agencies (CRAs) have been blamed for exacerbating a procyclical bias which only makes this task more difficult. How CRAs contribute to the constitution of the politics of limits underpinning the European sovereign debt crisis is at the core of this article. As a socio-technical device of control , sovereign ratings are an 'illocutionary' statement about budgetary health, which promotes an artificial fiscal normality. Subsequently, these austere politics of creditworthiness have 'perlocutionary' effects, which seek to censure political discretion through normalizing risk techniques aligned with the self-systemic, and thereby self-regulating, logic of Anglo-American versions of capitalism. The ensuing antagonistic relationship between the programmatic/expertise and operational/politics dimensions of fiscal governance leaves Europe vulnerable to crisis and the renegotiation of how the 'political' is established in the economy. New regulatory technical standards (RTS) can exacerbated the performative effects on CRAs, investors and member states.

Suggested Citation

  • Bartholomew Paudyn, 2013. "Credit rating agencies and the sovereign debt crisis: Performing the politics of creditworthiness through risk and uncertainty," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(4), pages 788-818, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rripxx:v:20:y:2013:i:4:p:788-818
    DOI: 10.1080/09692290.2012.720272
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Donald MacKenzie, 2006. "An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial Models Shape Markets," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262134608, April.
    2. Schmidt, Vivien A., 2002. "The Futures of European Capitalism," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199253685.
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    1. Gärtner, Manfred & Griesbach, Björn & Mennillo, Giulia, 2013. "The near-death experience of the Celtic Tiger: a model-driven narrative from the European sovereign debt crisis," Economics Working Paper Series 1321, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    2. Jens Christiansen, 2024. "State capacity and the ‘value’ of sustainable finance: Understanding the state-mediated rent and value production through the Seychelles Blue Bonds," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(2), pages 402-417, March.
    3. Kleczka, Mitja, 2015. "Monetary Policy, Fiscal Policy, and Secular Stagnation at the Zero Lower Bound. A View on the Eurozone," MPRA Paper 67228, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Meier, Samira & Rodriguez Gonzalez, Miguel & Kunze, Frederik, 2021. "The global financial crisis, the EMU sovereign debt crisis and international financial regulation: lessons from a systematic literature review," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    5. Paudyn, Bartholomew, 2015. "The struggle to perform the political economy of creditworthiness: European Union governance of credit ratings through risk," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 59624, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Duygun, Meryem & Ozturk, Huseyin & Shaban, Mohamed, 2016. "The role of sovereign credit ratings in fiscal discipline," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 197-216.
    7. Simona Hašková & Petr Fiala, 2019. "A fuzzy approach for the estimation of foreign investment risk based on values of rating indices," Risk Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(3), pages 183-199, September.

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