IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfinec/v142y2021i3p1359-1380.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why are corporate payouts so high in the 2000s?

Author

Listed:
  • Kahle, Kathleen
  • Stulz, René M.

Abstract

The average annual inflation-adjusted amount paid out through dividends and repurchases by public industrial firms is more than three times larger from 2000 to 2019 than from 1971 to 1999. We find that an increase in aggregate corporate income accounts for 37% of the increase in aggregate annual payouts, and an increase in the payout rate accounts for 63%. Firms have higher payout rates in the 2000s not only because they are older, larger, and have more free cash flow, but also because they pay out more of their free cash flow. Though firms spend less on capital expenditures in the 2000s than before, capital expenditures decrease similarly for firms with payouts and for firms without.

Suggested Citation

  • Kahle, Kathleen & Stulz, René M., 2021. "Why are corporate payouts so high in the 2000s?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(3), pages 1359-1380.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:142:y:2021:i:3:p:1359-1380
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2021.06.020
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304405X21002907
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jfineco.2021.06.020?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eugene F. Fama & Kenneth R. French, 2001. "Disappearing Dividends: Changing Firm Characteristics Or Lower Propensity To Pay?," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 14(1), pages 67-79, March.
    2. Lewis Alexander & Janice Eberly, 2018. "Investment Hollowing Out," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 66(1), pages 5-30, March.
    3. Smith, Clifford Jr. & Watts, Ross L., 1992. "The investment opportunity set and corporate financing, dividend, and compensation policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 263-292, December.
    4. Skinner, Douglas J., 2008. "The evolving relation between earnings, dividends, and stock repurchases," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(3), pages 582-609, March.
    5. Thomas W. Bates & Kathleen M. Kahle & René M. Stulz, 2009. "Why Do U.S. Firms Hold So Much More Cash than They Used To?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 1985-2021, October.
    6. Germán Gutiérrez & Thomas Philippon, 2017. "Investmentless Growth: An Empirical Investigation," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 48(2 (Fall)), pages 89-190.
    7. Doidge, Craig & Karolyi, G. Andrew & Stulz, René M., 2017. "The U.S. listing gap," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 464-487.
    8. Jagannathan, Murali & Stephens, Clifford P. & Weisbach, Michael S., 2000. "Financial flexibility and the choice between dividends and stock repurchases," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(3), pages 355-384, September.
    9. Gustavo Grullon & Roni Michaely, 2002. "Dividends, Share Repurchases, and the Substitution Hypothesis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(4), pages 1649-1684, August.
    10. Floyd, Eric & Li, Nan & Skinner, Douglas J., 2015. "Payout policy through the financial crisis: The growth of repurchases and the resilience of dividends," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(2), pages 299-316.
    11. Dhammika Dharmapala & C. Fritz Foley & Kristin J. Forbes, 2011. "Watch What I Do, Not What I Say: The Unintended Consequences of the Homeland Investment Act," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(3), pages 753-787, June.
    12. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    13. Peters, Ryan H. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2017. "Intangible capital and the investment-q relation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 251-272.
    14. Kathleen M. Kahle & René M. Stulz, 2017. "Is the US Public Corporation in Trouble?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(3), pages 67-88, Summer.
    15. Matthew T. Billett & Tao‐Hsien Dolly King & David C. Mauer, 2007. "Growth Opportunities and the Choice of Leverage, Debt Maturity, and Covenants," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(2), pages 697-730, April.
    16. DeAngelo, Harry & DeAngelo, Linda & Skinner, Douglas J., 2004. "Are dividends disappearing? Dividend concentration and the consolidation of earnings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(3), pages 425-456, June.
    17. Almeida, Heitor & Fos, Vyacheslav & Kronlund, Mathias, 2016. "The real effects of share repurchases," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(1), pages 168-185.
    18. Bengt Holmstrom & Steven N. Kaplan, 2001. "Corporate Governance and Merger Activity in the United States: Making Sense of the 1980s and 1990s," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 121-144, Spring.
    19. Banyi, Monica L. & Dyl, Edward A. & Kahle, Kathleen M., 2008. "Errors in estimating share repurchases," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 460-474, September.
    20. Malcolm Baker & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2002. "Market Timing and Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 1-32, February.
    21. DeAngelo, Harry & DeAngelo, Linda & Stulz, Rene M., 2006. "Dividend policy and the earned/contributed capital mix: a test of the life-cycle theory," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 227-254, August.
    22. repec:oup:rfinst:v:25:y::i:11:p:3351-3388 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Yueran Ma, 2019. "Nonfinancial Firms as Cross‐Market Arbitrageurs," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 74(6), pages 3041-3087, December.
    24. Claudio Loderer & René Stulz & Urs Waelchli, 2017. "Firm Rigidities and the Decline in Growth Opportunities," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(9), pages 3000-3020, September.
    25. Michael Faulkender & Mitchell Petersen, 2012. "Investment and Capital Constraints: Repatriations Under the American Jobs Creation Act," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(11), pages 3351-3388.
    26. Grullon, Gustavo & Paye, Bradley & Underwood, Shane & Weston, James P., 2011. "Has the Propensity to Pay Out Declined?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(1), pages 1-24, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Carmen Giovanazzi & Vincent Victor, 2024. "Unternehmensvermoegen in Deutschland: Zur Rolle der boersennotierten Familienunternehmen," Working Papers 5, Forum New Economy.
    2. John R. Graham, 2022. "Presidential Address: Corporate Finance and Reality," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(4), pages 1975-2049, August.
    3. Stylianos Asimakopoulos & James Malley & Apostolis Philippopoulos, 2024. "The Firm-level and Aggregate E¤ects of Corporate Payout Policy," Working Papers 2024_13, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    4. Nicholas Guest & S. P. Kothari & Parth Venkat, 2023. "Share repurchases on trial: Large‐sample evidence on share price performance, executive compensation, and corporate investment," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 52(1), pages 19-40, March.
    5. Altieri, Michela & Schnitzler, Jan, 2023. "Quarterly investment spikes, stock returns, and the investment factor," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    6. Sakawa, Hideaki & Watanabel, Naoki & Uchida, Konari, 2024. "Do bank ties influence stock repurchases in a bank-based financial system during financial distress? A pre-registered report," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    7. Cheema, Muhammad A. & Chiah, Mardy & Zhong, Angel, 2023. "Corporate payouts in Australia," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    8. Reddy, Niall, 2024. "“Downsize And Distribute” Or “Merge And Monopolize”? A Critique Of Corporate Financialization Theories," SocArXiv 2zy5h, Center for Open Science.
    9. Naresh Gopal & Ravi S. Mateti & Duong Nguyen & Gopala Vasudevan, 2024. "Stock buybacks and growth opportunities," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 63(4), pages 1413-1429, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kathleen Kahle & René M. Stulz, 2020. "Why Are Corporate Payouts So High in the 2000s?," NBER Working Papers 26958, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Banyi, Monica L. & Kahle, Kathleen M., 2014. "Declining propensity to pay? A re-examination of the lifecycle theory," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 345-366.
    3. Beyer, Brooke & Downes, Jimmy & Rapley, Eric T., 2017. "Internal capital market inefficiencies, shareholder payout, and abnormal leverage," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 39-57.
    4. Adra, Samer & Gao, Yang & Huang, Jin & Yuan, Jiayi, 2023. "Geopolitical risk and corporate payout policy," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    5. Brawn, Derek A. & Šević, Aleksandar, 2018. "“Firm size matters: Industry sector, firm age and volatility do too in determining which publicly-listed US firms pay a dividend”," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 132-152.
    6. Hussein Abedi Shamsabadi & Byung-Seong Min & Richard Chung, 2016. "Corporate governance and dividend strategy: lessons from Australia," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(5), pages 583-610, October.
    7. Jie He & Xuan Tian & Huan Yang & Luo Zuo, 2020. "Asymmetric Cost Behavior and Dividend Policy," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 989-1021, September.
    8. Adhikari, Binay K. & Agrawal, Anup, 2018. "Peer influence on payout policies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 615-637.
    9. James, Hui & Benson, Bradley W. & Wu, Chen (Ken), 2017. "Does CEO ownership affect payout policy? Evidence from using CEO scaled wealth-performance sensitivity," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 328-345.
    10. Chen, Ni-Yun & Liu, Chi-Chun, 2023. "The impact of share repurchases on equity finance and performance," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 198-212.
    11. Wang, Zigan & Yin, Qie Ellie & Yu, Luping, 2021. "Real effects of share repurchases legalization on corporate behaviors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 197-219.
    12. Yuan‐Teng Hsu & Chia‐Wei Huang, 2020. "Why do stock repurchases change over time?," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 26(4), pages 938-957, September.
    13. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Uddin, Mohammad Riaz, 2022. "Do intangibles matter for corporate policies? Evidence from organization capital and corporate payout choices," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    14. Fu, Fangjian & Huang, Sheng & Wang, Rong, 2022. "Why Do U.S. Firms Invest Less over Time?," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 15-42.
    15. Chou, Robin K. & Wang, Yu-Chun & Jimmy Yang, J., 2021. "Share pledging, payout policy, and the value of cash holdings," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 18-33.
    16. Paul Tanyi & David B. Smith & Xiaoyan Cheng, 2021. "Does firm payout policy affect shareholders’ dissatisfaction with directors?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 279-320, July.
    17. Brawn, Derek & Sevǐc, Aleksandar, 2015. "Net payout return: An alternative to the traditional returns approach based on dividends and share repurchases," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 66-73.
    18. Grey, Colette & Flynn, Antoinette & Donnelly, Ray, 2020. "Management compensation contracts and distribution policies in the US technology sector," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    19. Schmid, Thomas & Ampenberger, Markus & Kaserer, Christoph & Achleitner, Ann-Kristin, 2010. "Controlling shareholders and payout policy: do founding families have a special 'taste for dividends'?," CEFS Working Paper Series 2010-01, Technische Universität München (TUM), Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies (CEFS).
    20. Hwang Hee Lee & Frederick Dongchuhl Oh, 2022. "The role of credit default swaps in determining corporate payout policy," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 51(2), pages 635-661, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Share repurchases; Dividends; Payout policy; Payout rate;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:142:y:2021:i:3:p:1359-1380. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505576 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.