Standard & Poor's, a global credit rating agency, recently downgraded Alberta's rating from AAA to AA+. Bob Ascah, Fellow of The Institute for Public Economics at the 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø, worked in the Alberta Treasury Department in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and had frequent contact with rating agency personnel. Dr. Ascah explores the implications of the downgrade for Alberta in an interview, and in a column for the .