Discussion Paper
No. 2014-31 | July 16, 2014
Finn Marten Körner and Hans-Michael Trautwein
Sovereign Credit Ratings and the Transnationalization of Finance – Evidence from a Gravity Model of Portfolio Investment
(Published in Distance and Border Effects in Economics)

Abstract

It is a matter of debate in how far credit ratings contribute to allocative efficiency or to excessive volatility of asset prices and cross-border capital flows. Yet it is generally taken for granted that ratings play a significant role in the transnationalization of financial relations. This paper tests the hypothesis with regard to data on sovereign credit ratings and foreign portfolio investment. A rating-related gravity model of finance is derived from the choice-theoretical framework of Okawa and van Wincoop (Gravity in International Finance, 2012) and estimated in three stages. At the first stage, the authors find that the introduction and evolution of sovereign ratings and their gradual improvement since the 1970s has affected inward portfolio investment stocks and flows in host countries. At the second stage, the authors examine to which extent sovereign ratings help to predict the degree of investors’ home bias, as measured by the share of outward portfolio investment holdings in the home countries’ portfolios, and whether they can account for the divergent dynamics before and after the global financial crisis. At the third stage, the authors look at the explanatory content of ratings for the determination of the size of bilateral portfolio investment. Evidence for a significant role of sovereign ratings is found at all three stages.

Data Set

JEL Classification:

F41, F65, G11, G24

Links

Cite As

[Please cite the corresponding journal article] Finn Marten Körner and Hans-Michael Trautwein (2014). Sovereign Credit Ratings and the Transnationalization of Finance – Evidence from a Gravity Model of Portfolio Investment. Economics Discussion Papers, No 2014-31, Kiel Institute for the World Economy. http://www.economics-ejournal.org/economics/discussionpapers/2014-31


Comments and Questions



Anonymous - invited reader
July 24, 2014 - 16:37
I attach some comments

Finn Marten Körner and Hans-Michael Trautwein - IFRS adoption
December 18, 2014 - 09:43 | Author's Homepage
We would like to take the opportunity to refer to a comment by an invited reader filed on July 24, 2014. We attached a file "The Role of Sovereign Credit Ratings - 20140927 - Comment to Economics E-Journal (IFRS).pdf"

Anonymous - Referee Report
October 21, 2014 - 10:57
see attached file