Mohapatra, SanketCanuto, OtavianoRatha, Dilip2012-08-132012-08-132011-08https://hdl.handle.net/10986/10080Sovereign ratings are a necessary condition for countries to fully access international capital. Even if the sovereign government is not issuing bonds, the sovereign rating often acts as a 'ceiling' for the private sector and can influence its international capital market access. However, 58 developing countries are still not rated by Standard and Poor's, Moody's, and Fitch, the three international credit rating agencies. This premise presents an exercise to predict 'shadow' sovereign ratings to estimate where unrated countries will lie on the credit spectrum if they were rated. Contrary to popular perception, unrated countries are not necessarily at the bottom of the rating spectrum.CC BY 3.0 IGOACCOUNTINGASSET PRICEASSET PRICE BOOMSASSET PRICE BUBBLESASSET PRICESBONDHOLDERSBONDSBORROWING COSTCAPITAL ADEQUACYCAPITAL FLOWSCAPITAL MARKET ACTIVITIESCAPITAL MARKETSCOMMERCIAL BANKSCORRELATION COEFFICIENTCREDIT MARKETSCREDIT QUALITYCREDIT RATINGCREDIT RATING AGENCIESCREDIT RATINGSCREDITWORTHINESSCURRENCYDEBT CRISESDEBT FINANCEDEBT INSTRUMENTSDEBT OBLIGATIONSDEFAULT RISKDEFAULTSDEPRESSIONDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDOMESTIC BORROWINGECONOMETRIC MODELECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC POLICYECONOMICSEMERGING MARKETEMERGING MARKET COUNTRIESEMERGING MARKET ECONOMIESEMERGING MARKETSEXPLANATORY VARIABLESEXTERNAL DEBTFINANCIAL CRISISFINANCIAL MARKETSFINANCIAL STABILITYFINANCIAL STABILITY POLICYFINANCIAL STRUCTURESFOREIGN CURRENCYFOREIGN CURRENCY DEBTFOREIGN DIRECT INVESTORSGOVERNANCE INDICATORSGOVERNMENT REVENUEGROWTH RATEHIGH-INCOME COUNTRIESHOUSEHOLD DEBTIMPORTSINCOMEINFLATIONINFLATION OBJECTIVEINNOVATIVE FINANCINGINSTRUMENTINTEREST RATESINTERNATIONAL BONDINTERNATIONAL BOND MARKETSINTERNATIONAL CAPITALINTERNATIONAL CAPITAL MARKETINTERNATIONAL CAPITAL MARKETSINTERNATIONAL CREDITINTERNATIONAL MARKETSINTERNATIONAL RESERVESINTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENTSJUDGMENTLEGAL ENVIRONMENTLIABILITYLIQUIDITYLIQUIDITY CRISISLOW-INCOME COUNTRIESMACROECONOMIC VARIABLESMACROECONOMIC VOLATILITYMARKET ACCESSMONETARY FUNDMONETARY POLICYOUTPUTPOVERTY REDUCTIONPRIVATE CAPITALPRIVATE CAPITAL FLOWSPRIVATE FINANCINGPROPERTY RIGHTSPRUDENTIAL REGULATIONPUBLIC DEBTREAL ESTATEREGRESSION ANALYSISREMITTANCESRESERVERESERVE FUNDRESERVESRISK PREMIARISK WEIGHTRULE OF LAWSALE OF SECURITIESSMALL COUNTRIESSMALL ECONOMIESSOVEREIGN DEBTSOVEREIGN RATINGSOVEREIGN RATINGSSOVEREIGN RISKSTABLE GROWTHSTABLE INFLATIONSTOCK MARKETSYSTEMIC CRISISWORLD DEVELOPMENT INDICATORSWORLD ECONOMYYANKEE BONDSWorld Bank10.1596/10080