scholarly journals "Regulate the Regulator"

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Li
Keyword(s):  
Credit Rating ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
The United States ◽  
Workplace Culture ◽  
Global Markets ◽  
Rating Agencies ◽  
Security Guards ◽  
The World ◽  
The 2008 Financial Crisis

As the 2008 Financial Crisis caused global markets to contract, and people across the United States and the world suffered the costs, there has been a growing and significant body of literature investigating the relative culpability of different financial actors and institutions in perpetrating the 2008 crisis. “Regulate the Regulator” highlights the culpability of credit rating agencies (CRA) for the reason that their industry acted as a de-facto financial regulator in themselves, wielding a unique amount and type of power as the “gatekeepers” or “security guards” of capital markets. This article explores the role of CRAs in precipitating the events of the 2008 crisis by examining factors like inherent conflicts of interest, an opaque rating process that lacked substantive oversight, and the enforcement of a profit-oriented workplace culture. Taking its analysis a step, "Regulate the Regulator" then contextualizes the behaviour of CRAs within the post-1980s American financialization movement.

scholarly journals To Judge Leviathan: Sovereign Credit Ratings, National Law, and the World Economy

2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTOPHER M. BRUNER ◽  
RAWI ABDELAL
Keyword(s):  
World Economy ◽  
Credit Rating ◽  
The United States ◽  
Credit Rating Agencies ◽  
Rating Agencies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Global Capital ◽  
Sovereign Credit Ratings ◽  
The World

Recent decades have witnessed the remarkable rise of a kind of market authority almost as centralized as the state itself – two credit rating agencies, Moody's and Standard & Poor's. These agencies derive their influence from two sources. The first is the information content of their ratings. The second is both more profound and vastly more problematic: Ratings are incorporated into financial regulations in the United States and around the world. In this article we clarify the role of credit rating agencies in global capital markets, describe the host of problems that arise when their ratings are given the force of law, and outline the alternatives to the public policy dilemmas created when ratings receive a public imprimatur. We conclude that agencies designated for regulatory purposes should be required to provide more nuanced ratings exposing their perceptual and ideological underpinnings (especially for sovereigns), and facilitating consideration of alternatives to ratings-dependent regulation.

scholarly journals Lessons From The Current Financial Crisis: Should Credit Rating Agencies Be Re-Structured?

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Josh Wolfson ◽  
Corinne Crawford
Keyword(s):  
Credit Rating ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
The United States ◽  
Business Community ◽  
Credit Rating Agencies ◽  
Housing Bubble ◽  
Rating Agencies ◽  
Total Lack ◽  
Current Financial Crisis ◽  
Asset Backed Securities

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; color: black; font-size: 10pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">Credit rating agencies are considered the gatekeepers to the financial markets; however, these agencies have come under increasing attack in the past few years by investors, regulators and the business community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The United States Senate has accused the credit rating agencies of flawed methodology, weak oversight by regulators, conflicts of interest and a total lack of transparency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The Senate review concluded that the problems with the credit rating agencies were responsible for contributing to the housing bubble by awarding AAA ratings to complex, unsafe asset backed securities and other derivatives, thereby magnifying the financial shock when the housing bubble finally burst. In this article, we will explore how the credit rating agencies obtained, and, as many feel, misused their power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>In addition, we will outline currently proposed legislative and regulatory solutions.</span></p>

scholarly journals Rated P for Public

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Parth Kalaria
Keyword(s):  
Credit Rating ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Credit Rating Agencies ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
2008 Financial Crisis ◽  
Public Agency ◽  
Rating Agencies ◽  
Consumer Protection Act

Credit rating agencies have long played an important rolein the economy of the United States. In response to thefinancial crisis of 2008, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reformand Consumer Protection Act introduced reforms to increasethe transparency and accountability of credit rating agencies.With the rise of cryptocurrencies and the expansion ofblockchain technology, established credit rating agencies arenow considering offering ratings for cryptocurrencies, in thesame way they rate traditional securities. Borrowing from the lessons learned from the experience ofthe 2008 financial crisis, this Note proposes that the UnitedStates government create a public agency to providecryptocurrency ratings. The Note begins by providingbackground information on cryptocurrencies, blockchaintechnology, credit rating agencies, and the subprime mortgagecrisis of 2008. Next, it discusses problems in the credit ratingprocess that were not solved by Dodd-Frank—namely, theprevalence of fraud and conflicts of interest between ratingagencies and issuers. The Note then proposes the publiccryptocurrency rating agency solution and additionalsupplementary reforms that may be adopted to address these unsolved problems.

scholarly journals Do Callable Convertibles Support The Investment Process Of A Company? An Analysis Of The World Market Of Hybrid Debt

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-19
Author(s):  
Damian Kaźmierczak
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Market ◽  
Convertible Bonds ◽  
Investment Projects ◽  
Service Companies ◽  
The World ◽  
Investment Process ◽  
A Company

Using a sample of 1,705 convertible bonds issued by manufacturing and service companies from the United States (1,138 issues); Europe (270); and Asia (297) between 2004 and 2014 this paper investigates the role of callable convertibles in the corporate investment process. This research shows first that callable convertibles are used to finance investment projects particularly by American firms which may exercise new investment options to improve poor financial performance. Secondly, the same strategy may be followed by European companies, but they seem not to carry out investments on as large a scale as American firms. Thirdly, the research results do not provide evidence that Asian enterprises use callable convertibles for investment purposes: they likely use these instruments for different reasons.

scholarly journals Use of Artificial Intelligence as a Predictor of the Response to Treatment in Alopecia Areata

Iproceedings ◽  
10.2196/35433 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. e35433
Author(s):  
Fernando Alarcón-Soldevilla ◽  
Francisco José Hernández-Gómez ◽  
Juan Antonio García-Carmona ◽  
Celia Campoy Carreño ◽  
Ramon Grimalt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Alopecia Areata ◽  
Predictive Value ◽  
Data Augmentation ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
The United States ◽  
Response To Treatment ◽  
Disease Evolution ◽  
Dermatological Disease

Background Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged in dermatology with some studies focusing on skin disorders such as skin cancer, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, and onychomycosis. Alopecia areata (AA) is a dermatological disease whose prevalence is 0.7%-3% in the United States, and is characterized by oval areas of nonscarring hair loss of the scalp or body without evident clinical variables to predict its response to the treatment. Nonetheless, some studies suggest a predictive value of trichoscopic features in the evaluation of treatment responses. Assuming that black dots, broken hairs, exclamation marks, and tapered hairs are markers of negative predictive value of the treatment response, while yellow dots are markers of no response to treatment according to recent studies, the absence of these trichoscopic features could indicate favorable disease evolution without treatment or even predict its response. Nonetheless, no studies have reportedly evaluated the role of AI in AA on the basis of trichoscopic features. Objective This study aimed to develop an AI algorithm to predict, using trichoscopic images, those patients diagnosed with AA with a better disease evolution. Methods In total, 80 trichoscopic images were included and classified in those with or without features of negative prognosis. Using a data augmentation technique, they were multiplied to 179 images to train an AI algorithm, as previously carried out with dermoscopic images of skin tumors with a favorable response. Subsequently, 82 new images of AA were presented to the algorithm, and the algorithm classified these patients as responders and non-responders; this process was reviewed by an expert trichologist observer and presented a concordance higher than 90% with the algorithm identifying structures described previously. Evolution of the cases was followed up to truly determine their response to treatment and, therefore, to assess the predictive value of the algorithm. Results In total, 32 of 40 (80%) images of patients predicted as nonresponders scarcely showed response to the treatment, while 34 of 42 (81%) images of those predicted as responders showed a favorable response to the treatment. Conclusions The development of an AI algorithm or tool could be useful to predict AA evolution and its response to treatment. However, further research is needed, including larger sample images or trained algorithms, by using images previously classified in accordance with the disease evolution and not with trichoscopic features. Conflicts of Interest None declared.

scholarly journals Ukraine in the Focus of US Foreign Policy Priorities

2020 ◽  
pp. 66-79
Author(s):  
N. Gegelashvili ◽  
◽  
I. Modnikova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Radical Transformation

The article analyzes the US policy towards Ukraine dating back from the time before the reunification of Crimea with Russia and up to Donald Trump coming to power. The spectrum of Washington’s interests towards this country being of particular strategic interest to the United States are disclosed. It should be noted that since the disintegration of the Soviet Union Washington’s interest in this country on the whole has not been very much different from its stand on all post-Soviet states whose significance was defined by the U,S depending on their location on the world map as well as on the value of their natural resources. However, after the reunification of Crimea with Russia Washington’s stand on this country underwent significant changes, causing a radical transformation of the U,S attitude in their Ukrainian policy. During the presidency of Barack Obama the American policy towards Ukraine was carried out rather sluggishly being basically declarative in its nature. When President D. Trump took his office Washington’s policy towards Ukraine became increasingly more offensive and was characterized by a rather proactive stance not only because Ukraine became the principal arena of confrontation between the United States and the Russian Federation, but also because it became a part of the US domestic political context. Therefore, an outcome of the “battle” for Ukraine is currently very important for the United States in order to prove to the world its role of the main helmsman in the context of a diminishing US capability of maintaining their global superiority.

scholarly journals Are rating agencies still credible after the subprime crisis?

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 82-87
Author(s):  
Eleonora Isaia ◽  
Marina Damilano
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Stock Price ◽  
Credit Rating ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Subprime Crisis ◽  
Multivariate Tests ◽  
Rating Agencies ◽  
Price Reaction ◽  
Stock Price Reaction

Reputational concerns should discipline credit rating agencies (CRAs), eliminate any conflicts of interest, and motivate them to provide unbiased ratings. However, the recent financial crisis confirms models of CRAs’ behavior that predict inflated ratings for complex products and during booms. We test whether CRAs suffered a reputational damage for this behavior. We find strong support in the data for our hypothesis. The stock price reaction to rating revisions is significantly lower after the financial crisis, particularly in the financial sector. In multivariate tests, we find that the stock price reaction is lower, on average, in the post-crisis period by 2.3%.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document