I examine whether rating agencies are more likely to cater to borrowers with rating-based performance pricing agreements (PPrating firms). This study uses data from Moody’s Financial Metrics on agency adjustments to investigate this prediction and exploits an unexpected adverse shock to firms’ credit risk as identification. The evidence is mixed. In the crosssection and for firms experiencing a...

Massive downgrading and defaults during the 2008/2009 financial crisis have led politicians, regulators, and the popular press to conclude that the rating agencies’ business model is fundamentally flawed. The popular argument goes as follows. Issuers of securities naturally prefer higher ratings for their issues, because these reduce their cost of capital. Because the issuer pays the rating age...

Informational Efficiency of Credit Default Swap and Stock Markets: The Impact of Credit Rating Announcements This Paper analyses the response of stock and credit default swap (CDS) markets to rating announcements by the three major rating agencies during 2000-2. Applying event study methodology, we examine whether and how strongly these markets respond to rating announcements in terms of abnorm...