Do Sellers Disclose What Buyers Want to Know? Evidence from U.S. Credit Rating

This paper estimates the gap between the rating information disclosed by sellers and the information sought by buyers, using evidence from U.S. corporate credit ratings. While seller willingness to pay for an additional rating is highly concentrated among a subset of relatively high-quality, lower-risk firms, buyers demonstrate more uniform interest in additional ratings for firms at all quality levels. This finding highlights a gap in information disclosure among high-risk firms that is not a major focus of existing regulation.