Where the Heart Is: Information Production and the Home Bias
研究发现信用分析师在评级本土发行人时更慷慨，这一效应在关键评级节点（AAA和投资级）更强，降低了信用利差并扩大了发行人的债务容量，且并非源于信息优势而是本土偏好。
This paper tests whether home bias exists among information producers. We find that credit analysts are more generous when rating issuers from their home states compared with (a) benchmark analysts from outside the state and (b) their own standards for rating issuers from other states. This home analyst effect strengthens around key rating certifications (AAA and investment grade), reduces credit spreads, and expands affected issuers’ debt capacity. We conduct several tests to address the possibility that the observed home analyst effect reflects a selection effect based on informational advantages and conclude that it instead reflects a home bias. This paper was accepted by Tyler Shumway, finance.