This dissertation comprises three individual chapters. Chapter Two examines how free riding across neighbors influenced the diffusion of color television sets in rural China. Chapter Three tests for asymmetric information between a firm’s management and other investors concerning its patent output. Chapter Four discusses how knowledge stocks influence a patenting firm’s later diversification. Chapter Two documents the existence of a type of network effects - free riding across neighbors - in the consumption of color television sets in rural China, which reduces the propensity of non-owners to purchase. I construct a model of the timing of the purchase of a durable good in the presence of free riding, and test its key implications using household survey data in rural China. Chapter Three tests for asymmetric information between a firm’s management and other investors about its patent output by examining insider trading patterns and stock price changes in R&D intensive firms. It demonstrates that management has considerable information about its patent output beyond what is known to investors. It also shows that the predictive power of insider trading patterns on patent output comes from purchases rather than sales. Chapter Four discusses two sequential channels through which knowledge stocks may influence a firm’s later diversification. One is that firms with more knowledge are more likely to enter a new industry. The other is that firms’ businesses have a better chance of surviving, conditional on being formed. By examining U.S. public patenting firms in manufacturing sectors for 1984-1996, I find that knowledge stocks predict the likelihood of new industry entry when controlling for firm size. However, this predictive power is weakened when diversification effects are included. On the other hand, a survival study of newly established segments shows that initial knowledge stocks have significant positive effects on segment survival, whereas diversification effects are insignificant.

本文以2000~2009台灣地區不含金融證券業之上市公司為樣本，資料來源為台灣經濟新報社資料庫(Taiwan Economic Journal)，研究主題為探討多角化與股利發放政策之關聯性，同時也檢測多角化程度愈高而經營績效較差或盈餘品質較差的企業與股利發放政策之關係，實證研究的結果顯示，多角化程度會影響股利發放政策，而多角化與股利發放政策呈現顯著負相關，企業多角化程度愈高，股利支付率較低、較不會發放股利及較不會增加發放股利，而這些現象主要是集中在經營績效較差或盈餘品質較差的企業。 / Based on a sample of firms listed in Taiwan during 2000-2009, this study investigates the relationship between firm diversification and dividend policy and the extent to which firm performance and earnings quality affect diversified companies in making dividend policy decisions. The empirical results show that firms with greater diversification are less likely to pay dividends, pay lower dividend yields, and are less likely to increase dividends. I also find that such evidence is more pronounced among poor financial performance and lower earnings quality firms.