Rating Agencies: Creating, Amplifying or Drawn by Events in the Sovereign Debt Crisis?

Rating agencies transform information on a country's political, economic and financial situation into a summary indicator for investors. Thereby they mainly facilitate cross-border investment. In a number of empirical studies, ratings have been found to have been responsible for a widening of interest rate differentials vis-à-vis a reference country considered as a safe haven. The potential of triggering a vicious circle of interest rate increases and downgrades have put rating agencies into the focus of political interest in the context of the European sovereign debt crisis.