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2012 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

2. The Booms and Busts of the Sovereign Rating Activity

verfasst von : Norbert Gaillard

Erschienen in: A Century of Sovereign Ratings

Verlag: Springer New York

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Abstract

In previous centuries, sovereigns often went bankrupt. For example, Spain defaulted three times during the Golden Century; it defaulted seven more times in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. France defaulted eight times between 1500 and 1800. In the nineteenth century, Austria-Hungary and Prussia defaulted five times. These defaults, which involved both colonial and continental powers, show how difficult it has been to assess sovereign creditworthiness (see Reinhart and Rogoff 2009; Suter and Stamm 1992; Winkler 1933; Wynne 1951 for an exhaustive view of sovereign defaults occurred before the twentieth century).

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Fußnoten
1
The list of sovereign securities consisted of Argentinean, Austrian, Belgian, Brazilian, British, Canadian, Danish, Dutch, German, and Mexican bonds (Moody 1900, pp. 275–293).
 
2
Author’s computations.
 
3
Fitch Bond Books (1936, 1938, 1939).
 
4
Moody’s Manual of Investments – American and Foreign Government Securities (1940), Poor’s Volume (1940), Standard Bond Descriptions (1940), Fitch Bond Book (1940).
 
5
Foreign Bondholders Protective Council (1950), Report 1946 through 1949, p. 362.
 
6
See Strange (1967) for an unconventional yet correct argument that sovereign defaults were likely to increase.
 
7
Standard & Poor’s Corporation Records (1955), Moody’s Municipal and Government Manual (1955), Fitch Bond Book (1955).
 
8
For instance: Moody’s Bond Survey, “Brazilian Government, State & Municipal Dollar Bonds,” 19 June 1944, and Moody’s Bond Survey, “Peru’s Final Debt Settlement Offer,” 26 January 1953.
 
9
For instance: Moody’s Bond Survey, “International & Foreigns – Currencies Again in Crisis,” 25 November 1968; and Moody’s Bond Survey, “International Monetary Conditions and the U.S. Economy,” 31 May 1971.
 
10
Moody’s Bond Survey, “International Bonds Rated During 1975,” 5 January 1976.
 
11
Moody’s Bond Survey, 3, 10, and 31 October 1977.
 
12
Interview with David Levey (Managing Director, Sovereign Risk Unit, Moody’s Investors Service until July 2004), 16 December 2003, New York.
 
13
This evolution accelerated as new countries issued bonds in USD (Italy in 1986 and Hungary in 1989): Moody’s Bond Surveys, 20 October 1986 and 24 July 1989.
 
14
Moody’s Bond Survey, “Sovereign Outlook 1988,” 18 January 1988.
 
15
Standard & Poor’s CreditWeek, 28 March 1994.
 
16
In 1994, Brady bonds represented 61% of the negotiable debt of emerging countries (http://​www.​emta.​org).
 
17
Most Brady bonds were assigned a rating shortly after their issuance.
 
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Metadaten
Titel
The Booms and Busts of the Sovereign Rating Activity
verfasst von
Norbert Gaillard
Copyright-Jahr
2012
Verlag
Springer New York
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0523-8_2