@article{Flandreau:285131,
      recid = {285131},
      author = {Flandreau, Marc and Geisler Mesevage, Gabriel Francis},
      title = {The separation of information and lending and the rise of  rating agencies in the United States},
      publisher = {The Graduate Institute of International and Development  Studies},
      address = {Geneva. 2014},
      number = {BOOK},
      series = {Graduate Institute of International and Development  Studies Working Paper ; no. 11/2014},
      pages = {34 p.},
      year = {2014},
      abstract = {This paper provides a new interpretation of the early rise  of rating agencies in the United States (initially known as  ‘Mercantile Agencies’). We explain this American  exceptionality through an inductive approach that revisits  the conventional parallel with the UK. In contrast with  earlier narratives that have emphasized the role of Common  Law and the greater understanding of American judges that  would have supported the rise of an ethos of  ‘transparency’, we argue that Mercantile Agencies prospered  as a remedy to deficient bankruptcy law and weak protection  of creditor rights in the US. The result was to raise the  value of the nation-wide registry of defaulters which the  Mercantile Agencies managed. This ensured the Agencies’  profitability and endowed them with resources to buy their  survival in a legal environment that remained stubbornly  hostile.},
      url = {http://repository.graduateinstitute.ch/record/285131},
}