Credit Rating Industry: a Helicopter Tour of Stylized Facts and Recent Theories

Résumé

The recent subprime crisis and the ongoing Euro zone crisis have generated an enormous interest in the credit rating industry not only among economists but also among average citizens. As a consequence, we have seen an explosion of the economic literature on the industry. The objective of this survey is to introduce readers to the key stylized facts of the credit rating industry and to the recent theoretical economic literature on this industry.

Codes JEL

D43: Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
D82: Asymmetric and Private Information • Mechanism Design
G24: Investment Banking • Venture Capital • Brokerage • Ratings and Ratings Agencies
L13: Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets