Debt Analysts' Views of Debt-Equity Conflicts of Interest

Variable Definition
APPENDIX 1 (Continued)
On Watch Neg = Indicator variable that equals one if the firm is on a negative or developing S&P Watchlist
when the analysts’ recommendation is issued, zero otherwise.
On Watch Pos = Indicator variable that equals one if the firm is on a positive S&P Watch-list when the
analysts’ recommendation is issued, zero otherwise.
Rating Agency Action = Indicator variable that equals one in the five-day period centered on the date of a rating
agency action, including rating change, watchlist addition, or outlook change, and zero
otherwise.
Rating Agency Action
Neg
= Indicator variable that equals one in the five-day period centered on the date of a
negative rating agency action, including a rating downgrade, negative watchlist addition,
or a negative outlook change, and zero otherwise.
Text Count = Logarithm of number of words in each text extraction. At the report level, this variable
is aggregated by summing up Text Count for each text extractions.
Text Count High = Indicator variable that equals one if Text Count is above the median Text Count for all
debt analyst reports in the sample.
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