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Discussion Paper Details

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Title: Ratings Performance, Regulation and the Great Depression: Lessons from Foreign Government Securities

Author(s): Marc Flandreau, Norbert Gaillard and Frank Packer

Publication Date: June 2009

Keyword(s): great depression, Rating agencies regulatory licence and sovereign debt

Programme Area(s): International Macroeconomics

Abstract: During the 1930s, rating agencies took up a central role in regulatory supervision that they still have today. We study the process through which they received this regulatory license. The proximate cause for this changeover was the economic shock of the Great Depression. Exploring the performance of rating agencies in assessing the risks of sovereign debt, an important segment of the bond market, we show that superior forecasting capacities cannot explain the agencies? growing importance. We argue that the agencies? perceived lack of conflicts of interest (in contrast to other financial intermediaries) was a major factor in bringing them to the forefront of a new regulatory regime.

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Bibliographic Reference

Flandreau, M, Gaillard, N and Packer, F. 2009. 'Ratings Performance, Regulation and the Great Depression: Lessons from Foreign Government Securities'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=7328