Democratization’s Risk Premium: Partisan and Opportunistic Political Business Cycle Effects on Sovereign Ratings in Developing Countries

We use partisan and opportunistic political business cycle (“PBC”) considerations to develop a framework for explaining election-period decisions by credit rating agencies (“agencies”) publishing developing country sovereign risk-ratings (“ratings”). We test six hypotheses derived from the framework with 482 agency ratings for 19 countries holding 39 presidential elections from 1987-2000. We find that ratings are linked to the partisan orientation of incumbents facing election and to expectations of incumbent victory. Consistent with the framework, rating effects are sometimes greater for right-wing compared to left-wing incumbents, perhaps, because partisan PBC considerations with right-wing (left-wing) incumbents reinforce (counteract) opportunistic PBC considerations.economics, elections, developing countries, ratings

Democratization’s Risk Premium: Partisan and Opportunistic Political Business Cycle Effects on Sovereign Ratings in Developing Countries

We use partisan and opportunistic political business cycle (“PBC”) considerations to develop a framework for explaining election-period decisions by credit rating agencies (“agencies”) publishing developing country sovereign risk-ratings (“ratings”). We test six hypotheses derived from the framework with 482 agency ratings for 19 countries holding 39 presidential elections from 1987-2000. We find that ratings are linked to the partisan orientation of incumbents facing election and to expectations of incumbent victory. Consistent with the framework, rating effects are sometimes greater for right-wing compared to left-wing incumbents, perhaps, because partisan PBC considerations with right-wing (left-wing) incumbents reinforce (counteract) opportunistic PBC considerations.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39931/3/wp546.pd

DEMOCRACY’S SPREAD: Elections and Sovereign Debt in Developing Countries

We use partisan and opportunistic political business cycle (“PBC”) considerations to develop and test a framework for explaining election-period changes in credit spreads for developing country sovereign bonds. Pre-election bond spread trends are significantly linked both to the partisan orientation of incumbents facing election and to expectations of incumbent victory. Bond spreads for right-wing (leftwing) incumbents increase (decrease) as the likelihood of left-wing (right-wing) challenger victory increases. For right-wing incumbent partisan and opportunistic PBC effects bondholder risk perceptions are mutually reinforcing. For left-wing incumbents partisan PBC effects dominate bondholder risk perceptions compared to opportunistic PBC effects.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39961/3/wp575.pd

Residual State Factors, Policy Stability and Financial Performance Following Strategic Decisions by Privatizing Telecoms

We question previous research assuming that privatizing firm performance benefits from decreasing state ownership and the passage of time, both of which purportedly align principle-agent incentives promoting organizational decision-making that increases shareholder value. In response, we develop and test an alternative "credible" privatization framework proposing that: 1) residual state ownership positively affects shareholder response to strategic decisions by privatizing firms as it signals state support for managerial initiatives; 2) the passage of time since initial privatization negatively affects shareholder response to strategic decisions by privatizing firms as initial undertakings in support of the privatizing firm are reversed; and 3) that institutional policy stability moderates these two affects -greater stability obviates the need for residual state ownership and slows policy reversals over time. We find empirical support for our framework in event study analyses of cumulative abnormal returns ("CARs") associated with 196 major investments announced from 1986-2001 by 15 privatizing telecoms from around the world. State ownership effects on CARs are positive at 5-25% state equity levels but turn negative at higher ownership levels. CARs turn sharply negative within 1-2 years from initial privatization date. Increasing policy stability decreases positive residual state ownership effects, and reverses the precipitous drop in CARs over time. Results suggest support for our alternative credible privatization framework and the potentially positive role that residual state ownership can play in enhancing strategic decision-making and financial performance by privatizing firms, particularly in institutionally unstable environments.