TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bongaerts, Dion
AU  - Cremers, K.J. Martijn
AU  - Goetzmann, William N
TI  - Tiebreaker: Certification and Multiple Credit Ratings
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15331
PY  - 2009
Y2  - September 2009
DO  - 10.3386/w15331
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15331
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15331.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Dion Bongaerts
Burgemeester Oudlaan 50
3062 PA Rotterdam
Netherlands
Tel: +31 10 4082520
E-Mail: dbongaerts@rsm.nl

Martijn Cremers
University of Notre Dame
264 Mendoza College of Business
Notre Dame, IN 46556-5646
Tel: 574-6314476
E-Mail: mcremers@nd.edu

William N. Goetzmann
School of Management
Yale University
Box 208200
New Haven, CT 06520-8200
Tel: 203/432-5950
Fax: 203/432-3003
E-Mail: william.goetzmann@yale.edu
AB  - This paper explores the economic role credit rating agencies play in the corporate bond market. We consider three existing theories about multiple ratings: information production, rating shopping and regulatory certification. Using differences in rating composition, default prediction and credit spread changes, our evidence only supports regulatory certification. Marginal, additional credit ratings are more likely to occur because of, and seem to matter primarily for regulatory purposes, but do not seem to provide significant additional information related to credit quality.
ER  -