Analyst Promotions within Credit Rating Agencies: Accuracy or Bias?

We thank Ramin Baghai (discussant), Nicole Boyson, Thomas Chemmanur, Jesse Cornaggia (discussant), Matti Keloharju, Jeffrey Pontiff, Vikram Nanda (discussant), Philip Strahan, brown bag participants at Boston College and Harvard, seminar participants at Rice University, University of Kansas, and University of Virginia, and conference participants at The Economics of Credit Rating Agencies, Credit Ratings and Information Intermediaries Conference (2015), Colorado Finance Summit (2015), Northeastern University Finance Conference (2016), and University of Connecticut Risk Management Conference (2016) for helpful questions and comments. Before collecting data on analyst career paths from LinkedIn.com, we submitted a proposal to Boston College's Institutional Review Board (IRB). We were granted an exemption from Boston College IRB review in accordance with 45 CFR 46.101 (b) 4. Our IRB Protocol Number is 16.192.01e. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the authors, who are responsible for the content, and do not necessarily represent the views of our employers. Any remaining errors are our own. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

• August 2, 2016