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The central question of this paper is "how well can corporate bond ratings be explained by available financial and operating statistics?" This question may be reversed to ask, "how important to the determination of bond ratings are the 'intangibles of judgment' and the data that are presumably available to the professional rater, but not available in widely published data on the firm?" To provide evidence on this question, we have estimated the parameters of several regression equations designed to explain variations in the bond ratings. Before addressing this question, the authors present some comments on the importance and history of bond ratings (Section It). Prior studies of bond ratings are reviewed in Section III. Section IV discusses statistical methods and data. Variables that are believed to Be relevant determinants of bond ratings are defined, and the samples of industrial, railroad, and public utility bonds used in this study are described. This study is limited to the first four bond quality ratings — namely, Aaa, Aa, A, and Baa for each of these three traditional industrial classifications. Five explanatory variables are used: earnings coverage, long-term debt to capitalization, profitability, earnings instability, and asset size. Average values of these explanatory variables for each quality rating and industrial classification for the period 1961 through 1966 are also presented in this section. When presenting the empirical results of the study (Section V), we discuss the relative importance of the five variables in the statistical explanation of bond ratings, as well as their overall ability to explain bond ratings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compares the monthly interest rate series established by economists Erastus Bigelow and Lance E. Davis in the United States during the 19th century. Description of Bigelow's series; Significance of the series created by Davis.

Examines the role of the Second Bank of the United States in establishing and maintaining a uniform national currency in the 1820s. Status of the Second Bank during the early 19th century; Influence on the American economy.

Presents information on productivity and income distribution in the southern United States after the Civil War.

Discusses the social benefits of improvements in health services in the United States from 1880 through 1910. Reason for the improvement in the public's state of health; Improvements in water supply.

Traces the history of the industrialization of smaller countries in Northwestern Europe during the first half of 19th Century.

Examines the termination of the Long Drive in 1885 in the United States (U.S.). Significance of the cattle drive to U.S. history; Statistics on the cattle driven from Texas to Kansas by cowboys and drovers.

Deals with the new economic history in the United States. Contributions of the new economic history.

Deals with the economic programs introduced by former United States President Franklin Roosevelt from 1933-1939. Impact of the programs on the economy; Results of studies on federal expenditure programs; Evaluation of the expenditures of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Investigates the agricultural revolution in France during the 19th-century. Sources of the national growth; Discussion on the timing of the agricultural revolution.

Examines the economic impact of the designation of Madrid as the permanent capital of Spain by King Philip II from 1560-1660. Economic decline in the cities of Castile and Toledo; Comparison of the economic structures of Madrid and Toledo.

The theory of the African revolution, which is still in many respects only in its initial stage, found a most powerful inspiration in the West Indian psychiatrist, Frantz Fanon. His writings were at first confined to the French-speaking public, and even after their initial translation into English (published by Présence africaine) they remained almost unknown. But the growing race tensions in Africa and the United States are drawing more and more attention to this original thinker. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Provides information on the economic history of Japan during the Tokugawa period. Causes of the Japanese industrialization; Reexamination on the economic history of the country.

Features a study on the factors which caused the economic retardation of the United States during the late 19th century. Application of the neoclassical analysis; Details of consumer prices; Discussion on interest rates; Occurrence of economic depression in the country.

Explores the economic history of the Dutch Republic in 18th century. Details on the history of the Republic; Approaches to uncover the Republic's economy.

Explores the old economic history in Great Britain, which was developed before World War I. Stages of the economic history of the country; Characteristics of the first stage of economic history.

Examines the history of the Dutch slave trade. Details on the incidental slave trade in the period 1596-1637.

Studies the expansion of the English trade between 1550 and 1650. Opinion of economic historian Henri Pirenne on the role of capitalists on economic developments; Factors affecting the expansion of trade.

Examines the formation of debt peonage in the South after the Civil War in the United States. Reason for the failure of Southerners to diversify the region's economy.

Presents a study on the free banking law in the United States before the Civil War. Features of the law; Reason for the opposition of monetary historians to the law; Relation between free banking and wildcat banking.

Presents a study on the economy of rural France between 1830 and 1914. Challenges of studying the economy of rural France; Overview of agricultural developments in France; Conclusion.

Analyzes the emigration of people from Great Britain to the United States between 1860 to 1913. Number of people involved in the emigration; Possible causes of the emigration.

Explores the proposition that economic equality in the United States was greater from 1776 to 1790 than in 1860. Factors contributing to the idea that the Revolutionary era was a period of economic equality.

Explains the production function used in estimating agricultural development in Taiwan from 1910 to 1942. Presentation of the Cobb-Douglas function; Comparison of approaches used.

Focuses on a study which applied a macro economic model to Japanese economic history. Use of the general equilibrium interdependent systems in historical research.

Comments on an article about the productivity change in the agriculture of Taiwan during the colonial period. Errors in estimates of productivity change; Production function used in estimating productivity change.

Discusses the economic history of traditional Europe from the early Middle Ages until the 17th century.

Examines long swings in British investment in Argentina in the period 1880-1914. Explanations on the inverse British patterns; How the analysis of movements of both labor and capital can be conducted.

Talks about the economic history of Latin America. Correlation between the degree and criticism of the nature and function of an economy and both the quantity and quality of economic historiography; Factors constituting the core of historiography in Latin America.

Examines the economic development of the United States colonies from 1768-1772. Researchers who have focused on the subject; Limitations of data problems for the colonial period of economic history; Role of international trade.

Develops an agenda for the economic history of Europe in the 1970s. Effects of work in modern European economic history; Proposal that economic historians are ready to examine their entire analysis of the transition from the peasant economy to an industrial one.

Investigates the standard of living of immigrants in the United States (U.S.) in 1909. Conclusion of a related report presented by the Immigration Commission to the Congress on December 5, 1910; Legislation on immigration recommended by the commission; Criticism on the report.

Investigates the wages of civil engineers in the United States during the period of 1820-1859. Economics of the engineering profession; Trend toward competition among high-ranking engineers.

Analyzes the impact of immigration into the United States from 1840 through 1920, on the economic growth of the country. Differences between the native and foreign born population; Attainment of relative wages for the nativity groups.

Proposes an agenda for the study of African economic history. Comment on the work on the economic features of pre-colonial Africa; Discussion on the mistaken assumptions concerning African economic history.

Describes an agenda for the economic history of Asia in the 1970s. Increase in the tasks of economic historians specializing in Asia; Agenda for the economic historians studying Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia.

Describes the economic history of Modern Europe. Reason for the growth of economic history in the region; Campaign to promote work in economic and social history during the 1930s.

Discusses paper money issues in the American colonies from 1720 to 1774. Misinterpretation of the colonial monetary policies; Overview of the political background of British monetary policies in the colonies; Controversy over colonial practices during the period.

Offers a look at the historical evidence of the life of Scottish migrant Henry Burden to understand the development of manufacturing technology in the United States. How Burden assimilated into the American industrial community; Discussion on the attempt to introduce into the Springfield Armory the processes of rolling barrel scalps and welding barrels by rolling; Focus on the shift in Burden's career.

Examines the cotton textile handicraft industry and the domestic manufacture of yarn and cloth in China from 1871-1910. Effects of expanding foreign trade and domestic industrialization on the agricultural sector; Impact on the importation of foreign manufactures; Principal producing areas in the nineteenth century.

Comments on an article which compared the effect of export expansion on rural industry in Burma, Philippines and Thailand from 1870-1938. Factors to consider in the satistics that must be relied on; Repercussions from population growth; Presentation of economic models that could be used.

Comments on an article on productivity change in ocean shipping in the late nineteenth century. Factors that determine an acceptable measure of productivity change; Comparison of the relative productivity of steam and sail; Importance of steam and sail in causing reduction in transportation costs after 1870.

Discusses how capitalism or the money economy was formed and developed in Japan during the Tokugawa period, 1600 to 1868. Feudalism in the Tokugawa period; Development of commercial practices and a business philosophy; Role of the modern features of the Tokugawa period in the modernization of Japan in the Meiji era.

Provides information on the economic history of the United States. Effect of migratory movements on the economy; Contributions of the minority population; Discussion on social development.

Investigates the trends in the quality of British cotton textile exports during the period 1815-1913. Definition of quality; Cause of the reduction in export quality; Results of the investigation.

Focuses on the economic development in Great Britain from 1855 to the 1960s. Decade average rate of increase in the gross product of the country; Factors behind the sustained economic growth in Great Britain.

Investigates the relationship between the increase in average productivity and the accelerated application of scientific information in the manufacturing industry in the United States in the 1920s. Increase efficiency of production facilities; Transformation in industrial investment; Opportunities for mass-production innovations.

Deals with the interrelations between the economy and the government of the expanding Spanish empire in the era of overseas expansion during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. How the government reacted to the growing empire; How the Spanish territories of the Peninsula were unified by the process of reconquista and by the marriage policy of the Catholic kings; How Navarre and Portugal were joined during the sixteenth century.

Examines productivity change in ocean shipping on colonial routes in the United States between 1675-1775. Freight rates that have been constructed; Problems of interpretation in using freight rates; Effects of the substantial increase in shipping productivity during the colonial period.

Presents information on a study which examined the role of the samurai class in the emergence and development of modern banking in Japan. Modernization of Japanese political and economic institutions during the Meiji period; Events leading up to the 1876 amendment to the Banking Act of 1872; Primum mobile of modern banking in Japan; Evidence of the overstatement of the importance and role of the kazoku and samurai.