Euro crisis

: have been the european countries downgraded in excess?

Abstract

This dissertation studies the determinants of the European debt ratings through macroeconomic data and whether those ratings were excessively downgraded during the Euro debt crisis. The results show that, according to previous studies, most of the assigned ratings matched predicted ratings during the crisis period. Ratings are also found to be strongly influenced by changes in the variable gross debt. However, only Portugal and Ireland have been downgraded excessively during the crisis period and Moody’s is the credit rating agency which has higher downgrades. Furthermore, the empirical finds show non-sticky ratings.

Date of Award	2013
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Joni Kokkonen (Supervisor)