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Sinclair, Timothy J. The New Masters of Capital: American Bond Rating Agencies and the Politics of Creditworthiness.
Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005.
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Table of contents
Abstract
Reviews
Excerpt
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“In this volume Timothy J. Sinclair systematically and thoroughly explores
a major but little-known dimension of world affairs. The extensive expansion of international
capital mobility in recent years has accorded bond-rating agencies a central place
in the dynamics of globalization and Sinclair does a masterful job of explicating
the various ways in which these new masters of capital exercise their power and perform
their roles.”
—James N. Rosenau, University Professor of International Affairs, The George
Washington University
“In The New Masters of Capital, Timothy J. Sinclair investigates
the world of bond rating agencies. These private institutions have immense power,
as their judgments can profoundly affect the financial conditions faced by corporations,
cities, and countries. Their ratings can determine whether or not poor countries
or struggling municipalities can borrow on private markets, a consideration of profound
importance to their economic success. Sinclair explores how the bond rating agencies
function, and how they can malfunction, as part of the broader international political
economy. The New Masters of Capital will be interesting and informative for
all those concerned to understand the operation of today’s global financial
markets.
James Carville once famously said that when he was reincarnated he wanted to
come back as the bond market, because ‘then you can intimidate everyone.’
If Carville had read Sinclair’s book, he would have chosen to come back as
a bond rating agency, because then he could even intimidate the bond market!"
—Jeffry A. Frieden, Stanfield Professor of International Peace, Harvard
University
“Timothy J. Sinclair offers an admirably jargon-free account of bond rating
agencies. This book will be widely read, as it is the first to systematically tackle
this aspect of the politics of economic globalization. The New Masters of Capital
makes a strong and intriguing argument about the role of power and authority in the
social construction of knowledge in international market settings.”
—Kathleen McNamara, Georgetown University
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