Today’s extended post will be the first of a number of article previews this week concerning the credit rating industry. Throughout the week we will look at a number of issues, ranging from current regulatory proposals in the U.S. concerning the industry, to the role of the agencies in the emerging motor-finance bubble. In today’s post, the focus will be upon a work in progress that aims to chart the history of the ratings industry, but does so with a ‘cultural’ lens; the thesis of the piece is that the current agencies act in a manner which they have always acted – ruthlessly in their own self-interest – and that we must have that at the forefront of our minds if we are to regulate the industry for the protection of the public. The article, which can be found here in its current form, primarily seeks to recount the major instances within the industry’s history and analyse them to see if a pattern emerges. Before the article analyses the first ‘phase’ of the industry as we kn...