Do central bank governors' characteristics matter for sovereign credit ratings Evidence from emerging markets

We examine whether a country's central bank governor's characteristics matter for its sovereign credit ratings. Using a panel regression model over a dataset of 20 emerging economies from 2000 to 2019, we show that central bank governor's characteristics could play a crucial role in assessing sovereign ratings. In particular, we find that when the central bank governor is old, there is a positive effect on sovereign credit ratings, and the same is true for tenure. When considering academic and professional background, we show that being specialised in the area of finance and having previous experiences in a bank, in a ministry or in a public institution contribute to attaining higher sovereign credit ratings. The results are economically relevant in the sense that they could matter to both investors and national policy makers.