Lawrence J. White, a professor at NYU’s Stern School of business recently spoke about the history of the bond rating agencies on the NPR radio show Planet Money.
He notes that there was a major change in the bond rating industry in the late 1960s. Up to that point, the rating agencies were paid by investors, who had a strong interest in getting accurate information. Under this system, the rating agencies did a pretty good job of separating good from bad investments.
In the late 1960s, the rating agencies switched to charging the people who were issuing bonds, which created all sorts of conflicts of interest. According to Professor White, this change was driven by technology.
White blames the shift on the invention of “the high-speed photocopy machine.” The ratings agencies were afraid, he says, that investors would just pass around rating information for free. So they had to start making their money from the company side.
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The Past Speaks 