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A Rating Agency for Europe ? A good idea?

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  • Weder di Mauro, Beatrice
  • Bartels, Bernhard

Abstract

This paper compares the sovereign rating performance of a large European based rating agency with the Big Three. Using monthly ratings for 56 advanced and emerging economies from June 1999 to October 2012, we explore if Feri behaves differently with respect to rating levels, propensity of down- or upgrade and volatility. In addition, we test for herding behaviour among agencies and "neighbourhood bias" using a gravity model. We find that Feri tends to have a negative "neighbourhood bias", i.e it was tougher on European countries than its anglo-saxon competitors before the crisis and downgraded them more swiftly and aggressively during the crisis. Also, Feri's sovereign ratings tend to be more volatile than the ones of the Big Three though less prone to herding.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9512
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    Cited by:

    1. Ozturk, Huseyin & Namli, Ersin & Erdal, Halil Ibrahim, 2016. "Modelling sovereign credit ratings: The accuracy of models in a heterogeneous sample," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 469-478.
    2. Lang, Valentin F. & Presbitero, Andrea F., 2018. "Room for discretion? Biased decision-making in international financial institutions," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 1-16.
    3. Schumacher, Ingmar, 2014. "On the self-fulfilling prophecy of changes in sovereign ratings," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 351-356.
    4. Altdörfer, Marc & De las Salas Vega, Carlos A. & Guettler, Andre & Löffler, Gunter, 2019. "The case for a European rating agency: Evidence from the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1-18.
    5. 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.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Credit rating agencies; European rating agency; Sovereign risk;
    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

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