Financial crises, credit ratings, and bank failures: An introduction

Three of the papers in this volume address various aspects of these issues—in particular as regards the behavior and impact of sovereign credit ratings and the development of a portfolio model that lends itself to testing the vulnerability of banks. Two of the papers address issues related to the usefulness and impacts of sovereign credit ratings. A third paper is concernend with the default of banks. Or more precisely, how to limit bank failures through capital and provisioning measures.