DescriptionIn this dissertation, I examine several forces which impact credit ratings. One driver of credit ratings is recent legislation from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This sweeping regulatory reform moderated the incentives of credit rating agencies (CRAs) to issue upwardly biased ratings by significantly increasing CRAs’ exposure to litigation and regulatory risk. The first essay examines how the impact of this legislation affected rating properties. Another driver behind credit rating is access to soft information. Utilizing proximity between rating agencies headquarters and firm headquarters, the second essay analyzes how access to soft information impacts the accuracy of ratings. The third essay examines market participant’s degree of reliance on credit ratings. The 2010 recalibration of municipal bonds provides an opportunity to test investors’ reactions to rating changes which incorporate no new information and which were done irrespective of changes in credit quality. Reaction to the implementation of recalibration may imply that market participants over-rely on ratings and “fixate” on them.