Is solicitation status related to rating conservatism and rating quality?

This paper discusses the association between rating solicitation status and quality. Our model shows that if firms with a declining trend of performance are less likely to solicit ratings from credit agencies, these more conservatively rated, as their self-selection behaviour is seen signal high risk. empirical results support predictions proposed in this study show that: first, when controlling for fundamental factors, unsolicited lower than solicited ones, and; second, qualities both types not significantly different each other.