The Rating Agencies and Their Credit Ratings: What They Are, How They Work, and Why They are Relevant

Herwig Langohr was Professor of Finance and Banking at Insead, in Fontainebleau, France, which he joined in 1976, specialising in corporate finance, financial services and corporate governance. He visited numerous academic institutions such as The Wharton School, The Darden School and the Universität Konstanz (Germany). He was holder of the Goldschmidt Chair in Corporate Governance at the Solvay Business School (Brussels). Professor Langohr served on several boards of directors, in particular on the Board of Directors and the Audit Committee of both the financial services group KBC Group N.V. and KBC Insurance N.V. He was Dean MBA and member of the Executive Committee at INSEAD from 1993-1995. He was also a frequent director of Executive Programs and a regular advisor in corporate finance and strategy in the banking sector. He was a contributor to academic journals such as The Journal of Monetary Economics, The Journal of Financial Economics and The Journal of Money, Credit and Banking; to numerous professional journals and newspapers and a regular publisher of case studies. He passed away at the age of 64 on May 28^th 2008.

Patricia Langohr is Professor of Economics at the Essec Business School, in Cergy, France, since 2005. Her research specializes in industrial organization, dynamic models of competition and the financial services industry. She teaches microeconomics, industrial organization and business economics. Prior to that, she was a researcher at the Price and Index Number Research division of the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington D.C. Professor Langohr obtained her PhD in Managerial Economics and Strategy from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in December 2003. She has a Diploma in Economics from the Humboldt Universität in Berlin and a Maîtrise in Monetary Economics and Banking from the Université Paris IX Dauphine.