Rating Politics examines an important actor in global finance-credit ratings agencies. Although these agencies are private actors, they perform governance functions via their assessment of sovereigns' policies and political institutions. Barta and Johnston focus on how the logic of the ratings industry, and especially agencies' concern about their reputations, affects their assessments of governments. Focusing on wealthy democracies, the book uses interviews, rating agency reports, and statistical analyses to detail the ways in which rating agency practices affect the cost of sovereign finance. This book will be of interest to those who study sovereign finance, the governance of international capital markets, and the interaction between national welfare state policies and the global economy.
Zsófia Barta is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University at Albany, having previous held positions at Central European University, Harvard University, and the European University Institute. Her research focuses on the politics of public debt, covering diverse aspects of public finances from societal conflicts surrounding austerity to the influence of the markets for government debt on policy choice.
Alison Johnston is Associate Professor in Public Policy and the current holder of the Ulysses G. Dubach Chair in Political Science at Oregon State University. Her research lies at the intersection of international and comparative political economy, with a focus on the political economy of comparative capitalism and European monetary integration, growth models, housing markets and household debt, sovereign credit ratings, and general strikes. She is currently the lead editor of the Review of International Political Economy.
