Sponsor
Financial support from The Cameron Research Fellowship in Finance at School of Business Administration, Portland State University.
Published In
The Financial Review
Document Type
Post-Print
Publication Date
4-2018
Subjects
Credit ratings, Investments, Endogeneity (Econometrics), Business networks, Social capital
Abstract
We explore the effect of director social capital, directors with large and influential networks, on credit ratings. Using a sample of 11,172 firm‐year observations from 1999 to 2011, we find that larger board networks are associated with higher credit ratings than both firm financial data and probabilities of default predict. Near‐investment grade firms improve their forward‐looking ratings when their board is more connected. Last, we find that larger director networks are more beneficial during recessions, and times of increased financial uncertainty. Our results are robust to controls for endogeneity. Tests confirm that causality runs from connected boards to credit ratings.
DOI
10.1111/fire.12157
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/29171
Citation Details
Benson, B. W., Iyer, S. R., Kemper, K. J., & Zhao, J. (2018). Director Networks and Credit Ratings. Financial Review, 53(2), 301-336.
Description
This is the peer reviewed version of an article, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/fire.12157. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions."