THE DETERMINANTS OF COUNTRY RISK RATINGS

The purpose of this paper is to replicate Euromoney's and Institutional Investor's country risk ratings on the basis of economic and political variables. The evidence reveals that country risk ratings respond to some of the variables suggested by the theory. In particular, both the level of per capita income and propensity to invest affect positively the rating of a country. In addition, high-ranking countries are less indebted than low-ranking countries. It also appears that the ability of the model to duplicate the two country risk measures is very similar and both magazines' ratings can be replicated to a significant degree with few available economic statistics. © 1991, Academy of International Business.