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In this thesis, I take a theoretical dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) approach to investigate optimal aggregate dividend policy. I make the following contribution: 1. I extend the standard DSGE model to incorporate a residual dividend policy, external financing and default and find that simulated optimal aggregate payouts are much more volatile than the observed data when other variables are close to the values observed in the data. 2. I examine the sensitivity of optimal aggregate dividend policy to the level of the representative agent¿s habit motive. My results show that, when the habit motive gets stronger, the volatility of optimal aggregate payouts increases while the volatility of aggregate consumption decreases. This is consistent with the hypothesis that investors use cash payouts from well diversified portfolios to help smooth consumption. 3. I demonstrate that the variability of optimal aggregate payouts is sensitive to capital adjustment costs. My simulated results show that costly frictions from changing the capital base of the firm cause optimal aggregate dividends and real investments to be smooth and share prices to be volatile. This finding is consistent with prior empirical observations. 4. I run simulations that support the hypothesis that optimal aggregate dividend policy is similar when the representative firm is risk averse to when it has capital adjustment costs. In both cases, optimal aggregate dividends volatility is very low. 5. In all calibrated DSGE models, apart from case 4, optimal aggregate payouts are found to be countercyclical. This supports the hypothesis that corporations prefer to hold more free cash flows for potential investment opportunities instead of paying dividends when the economy is booming, but is inconsistent with observed data. Keywords: Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE), real business cycle, utility function, habits, dividends

Dividend policy, its determinants, and its impact on firm value are of significant academic interest, and many theories and explanations have been posited on the subject over the years, but there has not been a universal agreement. This thesis examines the links between dividend policy, various aspects of stock liquidity and price informativeness. We study a sample of UK firms over the period from 1996-2013. We show that, on average, stocks of dividend payers have significantly lower bid–ask spread and a lower illiquidity ratio than their counterparts of non-dividend payers. We also find that stocks of high-dividend payers are more liquid than those of firms that pay low or no dividends. These findings are consistent with the predictions of asymmetric information that posit that paying dividends reveals inside information to the market and hence decreases the level of asymmetric information, leading to higher stock liquidity. In the subsequent analysis, we suggest and examine a new channel through which dividend policy can impact firm value. Specifically, we show that dividend payers are less exposed to shocks in the aggregate market liquidity than non-dividend payers. Similarly, we find that the systematic liquidity risk is negatively associated with amount of dividends. Finally, in the context of signalling and agency costs models, we show that dividends are negatively related to stock price informativeness and that this relationship is stronger for firms with lower stock liquidity. The findings imply that dividend policy can both affect and be affected by stock markets. / University of Bradford

Выпускная квалификационная работа (магистерская диссертация) посвящена исследованию влияния дивидендной политики на инвестиционную привлекательность предприятия. Предметом исследования выступают экономические отношения, возникающие в процессе формирования и реализации дивидендной политики. Основной целью магистерской диссертации является рассмотрение влияния дивидендной политики на инвестиционную привлекательность компании. В заключении обозначены рекомендации по оптимизации дивидендной политики с целью повышения инвестиционной привлекательности. / Final qualifying work (master's thesis) is devoted to the study of the impact of dividend policy on the investment attractiveness of the enterprise. The subject of the research is the economic relations arising in the process of formation and implementation of dividend policy. The main purpose of the master's thesis is to consider the impact of dividend policy on the investment attractiveness of the company. In conclusion, recommendations for optimization of dividend policy with the aim of increasing investment attractiveness are indicated.

This thesis examines three important topics in corporate finance: the relation between the dividend-paying status of a firm and its investment and operating performance following a seasoned equity offering (SEO), the market's view on one-dollar CEO salary announcements, and the value of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the event of a data breach. First, I provide an in-depth analysis of the connection between dividend payouts and corporate investment of SEO firms. Empirical studies have documented the decline in post-issue operating performance of SEO firms, and the potential overinvestment of SEO proceeds seems to be a critical factor. Studies on dividend payouts argue that the agency cost of overinvestment could be lowered when dividends are paid to reduce free cash flows held by managers. To examine the connection, I utilize two post-issue dividend policies, paying consecutive dividends or nothing, to separate my sample of SEO firms and compare the two groups' post-issue investment and operating performance. I find that non-dividend-paying SEO firms overinvest more, leading to the deterioration of asset turnover and worse post-issue operating performance compared with dividend-paying ones. The results suggest a beneficial effect of consistent dividend payouts on post-SEO business operations. Second, I examine the market reaction to the public announcement of a $1 CEO salary decision using explicit reasons for the decision and mechanisms for dealing with the base salary to disentangle possible explanations for the reaction. It shows that the market does not favour the so-called personal sacrifice when CEOs eliminate their salary to counter a downturn or crisis. When a firm is in a predicament or has poor performance, the market sees its CEO’s decision to give up the salary as a signal that the outlook for the firm is bleak and the CEO is attempting to save their position. However, when newly hired CEOs start with a $1 salary, the market reacts positively. The results ascertain that a $1 salary is not seen purely as a vehicle for interest alignment. Third, I investigate whether public firms' CSR activities pay off when they suffer a data breach that potentially harms their reputation and hurts firm value. I use a sample of US data breaches and two sources of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) ratings to investigate whether CSR engagement by public firms mitigates the negative stock market reactions to their data breach announcements. I utilize pre-breach ESG scores to separate my sample of breached firms into high and low CSR groups. Using event study methodology, I find that the market reacts significantly negatively to only the low CSR group's announcements. Consistent with previous studies on how firms benefit from CSR activities when they face adversity and lose public trust, the results suggest that social performance protects firms against information leakage incidents. However, the extent to which the market assesses the ratings from different providers is still divergent, which is a concern for practitioners. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This study examines how the relation of earnings and payout is influenced by country-level moderators of investor protection and creditor rights. By using an international sample with 42,148 firm-year observations in 3,658 firms during the years 2001-2017, I find that earningspayout relation is strong. Further, I present evidence that the earnings-payout relation is alleviated in weak investor protection and creditor right countries due to the negative influence of dividends. Although share repurchases positively impact the strong earnings-payout relation, the positive effect of share repurchases is weaker compared to the negative one of dividends. As a consequence, in weak investor protection and creditor right countries, the strong earnings-payout relation is alleviated when it is tested with the logit regression.

Since theories of corporate finance are recognised to be conditional, this study explores the impact of the global financial crisis (GFC) of 2007-2009 and institutional settings in determining corporate financial decisions. The recession on the supply of credit and demand for credit affects the corporate financial channels. The credit recession causes more agency costs, bankruptcy costs and information asymmetry, which adversely influence both borrowing and investments. Firms reduce debt financing, retain more cash and cut corporate payouts due to a sharp rise in uncertainty. Moreover, the role of institutional settings on corporate decisions differs following the GFC. Three empirical chapters contribute to the literature: First, Chapter 3 investigates the role of GFC on determinants and the adjustment speed of leverage and debt maturity and reveals that the effect of bankruptcy costs, agency costs and information asymmetry only increases on debt maturity, as opposed to leverage in the post-GFC. The adjustment speed of leverage and debt maturity drops after the GFC due to the low supply and demand for credit. Chapter 4 examines how cash holdings have been affected by the GFC across countries which have different agency problems and analyses how the rise of agency costs and information asymmetry can explain cash decisions before and after the GFC. Financially constrained firms have quicker cash holdings’ adjustment compared to unconstrained firms. However, while firms in low-governance countries have slower adjustment speed of cash than those in high-governance countries in pre-crisis, it has been found that it is vice versa in the post-crisis period. Finally, Chapter 5 analyses the effect of agency problems and the GFC on dividend payouts. Contrary to firms in high-governance countries, those in common-law countries are less likely to pay out dividends, as confirmed by the substitute and outcome models, sequentially after the GFC. Also, dividends are used as a signalling device by the GFC. Overall, the GFC and institutional settings impact corporate financial policies of firms to specify where and when their shareholders invest. / Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Turkey İlim Yayma Vakfı İstanbul İktisatçılar Derneği (İKDER)

<p>This thesis explores the following three important issues in the field of corporate finance: window dressing in corporate cash holdings, market effects of SEC regulation of short-term borrowing disclosure and market response to dividend change announcements by unregulated versus regulated firms.</p> <p>First, I find strong evidence of upward window dressing in cash holdings by U.S. industrial firms during the fourth fiscal quarter. This behavior is robust to several controls and a December year-end dummy. Further cross-sectional analysis reveals that the window dressing is sensitive to firm size and level of information asymmetry. I also find that firms manipulate discretionary accruals to dress up fourth quarter cash, perhaps to gain favourable credit terms on issuing short-term debt.</p> <p>Second, I use portfolios of financial and non-financial SEC registrants to examine the market reaction to proposed SEC short-term borrowing disclosure regulation. Using event study methodology, I find that the market reaction is positive and significant at the announcement date and negative and significant at the voting date. Overall, I observe a positive market reaction, indicating the usefulness of the disclosure from the vantage point of users. The results for various subsets confirm the expectations and suggest that a “one-size-fits-all” approach to regulation is undesirable.</p> <p>Finally, I use large samples of dividend increase and decrease announcements for the period 1960 to 2010 in order to compare stock price reactions of unregulated and regulated firms. I observe a stronger market reaction to the dividend increase announcements of unregulated firms compared to those of regulated firms after controlling for firm characteristics, market factors and contemporaneous earnings announcements, a result consistent with the dividend signaling hypothesis and uniqueness argument for regulated firms. However, I find that the market reaction to dividend decrease announcements is similar for unregulated and regulated firms. The cross-sectional analysis further confirms that the stronger stock price reaction to dividend increase announcements of unregulated firms is associated with the level of information asymmetry.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

[pt] A política de distribuição de dividendos têm despertado o interesse de economistas deste século e nas últimas cinco décadas foi objeto de uma intensa modelagem teórica e de testes empíricos. Um grande número de modelos é conflitante entre si (todos sem grande suporte empírico), e definem as tentativas de explicar o comportamento da distribuição de lucros. Buscaremos explicar o comportamento, fazendo uma análise empírica da distribuição de dividendos no mercado brasileiro. / [en] The politics of distribution of dividends has been an important matter of economists of this century and in last the five decades. It was object of an intense theoretical modeling and empirical tests. A great number of models are conflicting among thenselves(all without great empirical support), and define the attempts to explain the behavior of the distribution of profits. We will try to explain the behavior, making an empirical analysis of the dividends distribution, in the brazilian equity market.

Tidigare studier har undersökt relationen mellan utdelning och olika typer av ägande, till exempel utländskt ägande, familjeägande och koncentrerat ägande. Undersökningarna har väckt en del intressanta frågor inom området och därför är syftet med denna studie att undersöka om ägarstrukturen har någon påverkan på utdelningen. Ägarstrukturen definieras som den ägaren med största procentuella aktiepost med hänsyn till både kapital- och röstandel. Undersökningen inkluderar 168 börsnoterade bolag och behandlar perioden 2012– 2022. Arbetets ekonometriska tillvägagångssätt innefattar två delar. I första delen utförs olika typer av paneldataregressioner avseende hela perioden. Därefter delas undersökningsperioden in i två olika tidsperioder, ett genomsnitt för varje bolag och period tas ut för att kunna behandlas som två tvärsnittsregressioner. Regressionerna utvärderas och tolkas främst utifrån signifikansnivå, koefficientvärden och determinationskoefficienter. Studien påvisar en positiv relation mellan största röstandel och utdelningsnivån, största kapitalandel har dock en negativ relation till utdelningsnivån. Dessa värden är statistiskt signifikanta men förklaringsgraden är låg och det bör tas i beaktning vid tolkning av resultaten. / Prior research has looked at the connection between dividends and various ownership structures, including family, foreign, and concentrated ownership. The goal of this study is to determine whether ownership structure affects dividends, as some intriguing questions in this area have been brought up by surveys. The owner holding the highest percentage of shares in this scenario, for both capital and voting shares, will be in the ownership structure. The survey spans the years 2012–2022 and comprises 168 listed companies. There are two components to the work's econometric approach. Several panel data regressions are carried out with respect to the full period in the first section. After splitting the survey period into two distinct time periods, an average is calculated for each company and period, which are then used to create two cross-sectional regressions. The significance level, coefficient values, and coefficients of determination are the main criteria used to evaluate and interpret the regressions. The study shows a positive relationship between the largest voting share and the dividend level; however, the largest capital share has a negative relationship with the dividend level. These values are statistically significant, but the degree of explanation is low, and this should be considered when interpreting the results.