Institutional Environment and Sovereign Credit Ratings
用86个国家的数据发现，法律和政治制度质量对主权信用评级有显著正向影响，即使控制人均GDP、通胀等常见因素后，制度环境每提高一个标准差，评级平均提升0.466个标准差，且该效应在考虑内生性后依然稳健。
We use a sample of 86 counties to examine the cross‐sectional determinants of sovereign credit ratings. We find that the quality of a country's legal and political institutions plays a vital role in determining these ratings. A one‐standard‐deviation increase in our legal environment index results in an average credit rating increase of 0.466 standard deviations, even when we control for obvious factors such as GDP per capita, inflation, foreign debt per GDP, previous defaults, and general development. Although part of this effect is due to the legal environment's endogeneity, its relative importance is robust to endogeneity concerns.