The role of rating agencies in the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis

The project attempts to provide an empirical understanding of the role of rating agencies in sovereign debt crises in general, and in the Eurozone's sovereign debt crisis in particular. It looks both at what determines sovereign bond ratings, and at the effects of rating changes. From a macroeconomic perspective we try to find out whether Europe faced a scenario of multiple equilibria and self-fulfilling prophecy, and how rating agencies affected the dynamics within such a system.