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Markets The Credit Rating Agencies

In 1909, John Moody published the fifi rst publicly available bond ratings, focused entirely on railroad bonds. Moody’s fifi rm was followed by Poor’s Publishing Company in 1916, the Standard Statistics Company in 1922, and the Fitch Publishing Company in 1924. These fifi rms’ bond ratings were sold to bond investors in thick manuals. These fifi rms evolved over time. Dun & Bradstreet bought Moody’s in 1962, but then subsequently spun it off in 2000 as a free-standing corporation. Poor’s and Standard merged in 1941; Standard & Poor’s was then absorbed by McGraw- Hill in 1966. Fitch merged with IBCA (a British fifi rm, which was a. | Journal of Economic Perspectives Volume 24 Number 2 Spring 2010 Pages 211-226 Markets The Credit Rating Agencies Lawrence J. White This feature explores the operation of individual markets. Patterns of behavior in markets for specific goods and services offer lessons about the determinants and effects of supply and demand market structure strategic behavior and government regulation. Suggestions for future columns and comments on past ones should be sent to James R. Hines Jr. c o Journal of Economic Perspectives Department of Economics University of Michigan 611 Tappan St. Ann Arbor Michigan 48109-1220. Introduction In 1909 John Moody published the first publicly available bond ratings focused entirely on railroad bonds. Moody s firm was followed by Poor s Publishing Company in 1916 the Standard Statistics Company in 1922 and the Fitch Publishing Company in 1924. These firms bond ratings were sold to bond investors in thick manuals. These firms evolved over time. Dun Bradstreet bought Moody s in 1962 but then subsequently spun it off in 2000 as a free-standing corporation. Poor s and Standard merged in 1941 Standard Poor s was then absorbed by McGraw-Hill in 1966. Fitch merged with IBCA a British firm which was a subsidiary of FIMILAC a French business services conglomerate in 1997. At the end of the year 2000 at about the time that the market for structured securities that were based on subprime residential mortgages began growing rapidly the issuers of these securities had only these three credit-rating agencies to whom they could turn to obtain their all-important ratings Moody s Standard Poor s S P and Fitch. LawrenceJ. White is Professor of Economics Stern School of Business New York University New York. His e-mail address is Lwhite@stern.nyu.edu . doi 10.1257 jep.24.2.211 212 Journal of Economic Perspectives Favorable ratings from these three credit agencies were crucial for the successful sale of the securities based on subprime residential mortgages and .