Marc Flandreau, Professor of International History, and Gabriel Geisler Mesevage, PhD student, International History, have won the 2014 prize for best article in Enterprise & Society.

The article, entitled the Untold History of Transparency: Mercantile Agencies, the Law, and the Lawyers (1851-1916), provides a revisionist take on the rise of rating. The conventional view is that early rating agencies, which were established in the late-19th century, emerged due to a cultural shift that made publicly discussing a merchant’s credit acceptable – something that would have been sanctioned by tribunals. As Marc Flandreau and Gabriel Geisler Mesevage found, however, this story was developed by lawyers employed by rating agencies.

Examination of court cases and the litigation archive of one such firm lead Marc Flandreau and Gabriel Geisler Mesevage to discover a world where agencies bullied plaintiffs, suborned witnesses and colluded among themselves to ensure that litigation remained minimised. The origins of the ratings business is found in a series of often underhanded techniques, narrated by the best legal talent as the real story behind the rise of transparency.

The Untold History of Transparency epitomises many of the characteristics of research at the Institute, especially as it combines various disciplines in order to make a relevant point, with history, economics and legal research providing the article’s background.