And yet sovereign ratings matter tremendously.

That is evident from their credit ratings.

Trump's favorability ratings have turned 180 degrees.

Ratings that pretend to take into account systemic risk might prove as dangerous as ratings that ignore such risk.

Ratings agencies had incentives to give good ratings to the high risk securities produced by the investment banks that were paying them.

First, governments debt soared and their credit ratings plummeted.

Oil prices are soaring, as are Putin s approval ratings.

Even if ratings were no longer required or encouraged by law, however, demand for ratings and the need to improve their reliability would remain.

His ratings have dipped below 50 for the first time.

Poll after poll puts his approval ratings at more than 70 .

But to make ratings work, the raters need to be rated.

The credit ratings agencies have been held accountable in two private suits.

The approval ratings for Russia s president and prime minister are heading south.

Bond rating agencies have issued misleading ratings on companies in questionable health.

In principle, credit ratings are based on statistical models of past defaults in practice, however, with few national defaults having actually occurred, sovereign ratings are often a subjective affair.

And their presidents, despite their undeniable competence, are watching their approval ratings plummet.

Since his victory in 2004, Yushchenko s popularity ratings have plummeted to around 8 .

For many investors, credit ratings dictate where and how much they can invest.

US citizens register high approval ratings in Canada and Mexico 90 and 70 , respectively.

And, with approval ratings in the single digits, there s nowhere to go but up.

Yet he clearly failed to comprehend that this was not just about approval ratings.

Fitch Ratings has cut the Greek rating to BBB , the third lowest investment grade.

It s natural that the state of global markets will have some kind of ripple effect, says Greg Kabance, managing director for Latin American structured finance at Fitch Ratings, the international credit ratings agency.

Indeed, the entire financial sector was rife with agency problems and externalities. Ratings agencies had incentives to give good ratings to the high risk securities produced by the investment banks that were paying them.

And, whereas the Basel standards continue to refer extensively to credit ratings as the basis for assessing the creditworthiness of borrowers, the Dodd Frank Act in the US moves away from reliance on ratings.

All ratings of financial products raise the same incentive problems and could benefit from reform.

Finally, the investors who bought MBS s and CDO s were greedy and believed the misleading ratings.

Regulators, meanwhile, are now starting to require banks to develop their own internal ratings processes.

Palin s approval ratings among women fell as they learned more about what she stands for.

Seven's Sunrise dominates ratings, despite Nine's attempts to cover the leadership spill on Today Show

It took us 50 years to reach annual savings ratings of almost 10 percent. 50 years.

They thought that financial innovations could somehow turn bad mortgages into good securities, meriting AAA ratings.

Given the problems with ratings agencies, investors and regulators recognize the need for a different approach.

Check out our buying guide and Ratings for digital cameras for both conventional and waterproof models.

Compared with the organisation's previous report, published in 2009, Russia's position in the ratings has dropped.

If our fir tree gets good ratings, Zh could say the project was part of the

The year ahead, however, could prove more challenging for Putin than his astronomical approval ratings suggest.

To our free media who only care about ratings you are equally responsible for her death.

That will depend on decisions taken by politicians with low approval ratings, noisy oppositions, and inadequate coordination.

Unfortunately, one must wonder to what extent these ratings are distorted by the eurozone countries political power.

Indeed, I believe that it is here that the seminal reason for their plunging poll ratings lies.

President Lech Kaczynski s approval ratings, are dramatically lower than those of his predecessor, the SLD s Aleksander Kwasniewski.

Given past experience, we cannot rely on market reputation to ensure that such ratings will be reliable.

Indeed, an ethos of perpetual vigilance is central to sustaining President Vladimir Putin s high popular approval ratings.

Simplifying financial institutions, especially those with an implicit government backstop, must also play a role in rebuilding a dynamic economy. Ratings that pretend to take into account systemic risk might prove as dangerous as ratings that ignore such risk.