IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pacfin/v74y2022ics0927538x2200083x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does stock market liquidity affect dividends?

Author

Listed:
  • Michaely, Roni
  • Qian, Meijun

Abstract

Using two exogenous shocks, we examine the causal impact of stock liquidity on firms' dividend policy. Both the first shock, the reduction of the minimum tick size from 1/16 to decimals in the US, and the second shock, the mandatory conversion of non-traded stocks to traded stocks in China, changed the liquidity of affected stocks. We find, in both experiments, that increased stocks liquidity results in a significant reduction in dividends. Our empirical design enables us to control for asset liquidity, investment changes, and other omitted factors that might affect firms' dividend policy. We conclude that when firms set dividend policies, satisfying investors' liquidity needs is a significant factor.

Suggested Citation

  • Michaely, Roni & Qian, Meijun, 2022. "Does stock market liquidity affect dividends?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pacfin:v:74:y:2022:i:c:s0927538x2200083x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.pacfin.2022.101788
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927538X2200083X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.pacfin.2022.101788?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. Murillo Campello & Rafael P. Ribas & Albert Y. Wang, 2014. "Is the Stock Market Just a Side Show? Evidence from a Structural Reform," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 3(1-2), pages 1-38.
    2. 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.
    3. Michaely, Roni & Moin, Amani, 2022. "Disappearing and reappearing dividends," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 207-226.
    4. Liu, Chunyan & Uchida, Konari & Yang, Yufeng, 2014. "Controlling shareholder, split-share structure reform and cash dividend payments in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 339-357.
    5. Alex Edmans & Vivian W. Fang & Emanuel Zur, 2013. "The Effect of Liquidity on Governance," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(6), pages 1443-1482.
    6. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2003. "Enjoying the Quiet Life? Corporate Governance and Managerial Preferences," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(5), pages 1043-1075, October.
    7. Fang, Hongyan & Song, Zhihui & Nofsinger, John R. & Wang, Yuyue, 2017. "Trading restrictions and firm dividends: The share lockup expiration experience in China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 83-98.
    8. Qi Chen & Xiao Chen & Katherine Schipper & Yongxin Xu & Jian Xue, 2012. "The Sensitivity of Corporate Cash Holdings to Corporate Governance," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(12), pages 3610-3644.
    9. Xu, Jingjing & Huang, Haijie, 2021. "Pay more or pay less? The impact of controlling shareholders' share pledging on firms' dividend payouts," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    10. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐de‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 2000. "Agency Problems and Dividend Policies around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 1-33, February.
    11. Brav, Alon & Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Michaely, Roni, 2005. "Payout policy in the 21st century," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(3), pages 483-527, September.
    12. Qian, Meijun & Yeung, Bernard Y., 2015. "Bank financing and corporate governance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 258-270.
    13. Banerjee, Suman & Gatchev, Vladimir A. & Spindt, Paul A., 2007. "Stock Market Liquidity and Firm Dividend Policy," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(2), pages 369-397, June.
    14. Jiang, Fuxiu & Ma, Yunbiao & Shi, Beibei, 2017. "Stock liquidity and dividend payouts," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 295-314.
    15. Claessens, Stijn & Djankov, Simeon & Lang, Larry H. P., 2000. "The separation of ownership and control in East Asian Corporations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 81-112.
    16. Amihud, Yakov & Mendelson, Haim, 1986. "Asset pricing and the bid-ask spread," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 223-249, December.
    17. Larry H. P. Lang & Mara Faccio & Leslie Young, 2001. "Dividends and Expropriation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 54-78, March.
    18. Brockman, Paul & Howe, John S. & Mortal, Sandra, 2008. "Stock market liquidity and the decision to repurchase," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 446-459, September.
    19. 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.
    20. Merton H. Miller & Franco Modigliani, 1961. "Dividend Policy, Growth, and the Valuation of Shares," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34, pages 411-411.
    21. Nyborg, Kjell & Wang, Zexi, 2019. "Corporate cash holdings: Stock liquidity and the repurchase motive," CEPR Discussion Papers 13791, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    22. Cheung, Yan-Leung & Rau, P. Raghavendra & Stouraitis, Aris, 2006. "Tunneling, propping, and expropriation: evidence from connected party transactions in Hong Kong," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 343-386, November.
    23. Chen, Donghua & Jian, Ming & Xu, Ming, 2009. "Dividends for tunneling in a regulated economy: The case of China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 209-223, April.
    24. Roni Michaely & Michael R. Roberts, 2012. "Corporate Dividend Policies: Lessons from Private Firms," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(3), pages 711-746.
    25. Bessembinder, Hendrik, 2003. "Trade Execution Costs and Market Quality after Decimalization," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(4), pages 747-777, December.
    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. Huang, Ying Sophie & Guo, Feng & Ma, Lina, 2023. "Do M&A funds create value in Chinese listed firms?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    2. Khelifa Mazouz & Yuliang Wu & Rabab Ebrahim & Abhijit Sharma, 2023. "Dividend policy, systematic liquidity risk, and the cost of equity capital," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 839-876, April.

    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. Fang, Hongyan & Song, Zhihui & Nofsinger, John R. & Wang, Yuyue, 2017. "Trading restrictions and firm dividends: The share lockup expiration experience in China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 83-98.
    2. Jiang, Fuxiu & Cai, Xinni & Jiang, Zhan & Nofsinger, John R., 2019. "Multiple large shareholders and dividends: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    3. Nguyen, Truong-Giang, 2020. "Stock liquidity and dividend policy: Evidence from an imputation tax environment," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    4. Paul McGuinness & Kevin Lam & João Vieito, 2015. "Gender and other major board characteristics in China: Explaining corporate dividend policy and governance," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 989-1038, December.
    5. Li, Wanli & Zhou, Jingting & Yan, Ziqiao & Zhang, He, 2020. "Controlling shareholder share pledging and firm cash dividends," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    6. Stereńczak, Szymon & Kubiak, Jarosław, 2022. "Dividend policy and stock liquidity: Lessons from Central and Eastern Europe," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    7. Song, Xiaobao & Yao, Mingan & Su, Wunhong & Lin, Danming, 2021. "The impact of ultimate controller’s ownership on cash dividend policy based on a comparative analysis between owner-management and professional-management modes," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    8. Alzahrani, Mohammed & Lasfer, Meziane, 2012. "Investor protection, taxation, and dividends," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 745-762.
    9. Jiang, Fuxiu & Ma, Yunbiao & Shi, Beibei, 2017. "Stock liquidity and dividend payouts," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 295-314.
    10. Khelifa Mazouz & Yuliang Wu & Rabab Ebrahim & Abhijit Sharma, 2023. "Dividend policy, systematic liquidity risk, and the cost of equity capital," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 839-876, April.
    11. Fairchild, Richard & Guney, Yilmaz & Thanatawee, Yordying, 2014. "Corporate dividend policy in Thailand: Theory and evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 129-151.
    12. David S. Koo & Santhosh Ramalingegowda & Yong Yu, 2017. "The effect of financial reporting quality on corporate dividend policy," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 753-790, June.
    13. Anneleen Michiels & Wim Voordeckers & Nadine Lybaert & Tensie Steijvers, 2015. "Dividends and family governance practices in private family firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 299-314, February.
    14. Craig W. Holden & Stacey Jacobsen & Avanidhar Subrahmanyam, 2014. "The Empirical Analysis of Liquidity," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 8(4), pages 263-365, December.
    15. Goyal, Abhinav & Jategaonkar, Shrikant P. & Muckley, Cal B., 2020. "Why do privatized firms pay higher dividends?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    16. Choi, Young Mok & Park, Kunsu, 2019. "Does foreign currency-denominated debt affect dividend payout policy? Evidence from Korea," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 20-34.
    17. Fidrmuc, Jana P. & Jacob, Marcus, 2010. "Culture, agency costs, and dividends," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 321-339, September.
    18. Cao, Lihong & Du, Yan & Hansen, Jens Ørding, 2017. "Foreign institutional investors and dividend policy: Evidence from China," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 816-827.
    19. Renneboog, Luc & Szilagyi, Peter G., 2020. "How relevant is dividend policy under low shareholder protection?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    20. Jakub Kwiatkowski, 2017. "R&D activity and dividend policy of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange," Working Papers of Economics of European Integration Division 1702, The Univeristy of Gdansk, Faculty of Economics, Economics of European Integration Division.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Liquidity; Dividends; Clientele; Governance; Payout policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation

    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:pacfin:v:74:y:2022:i:c:s0927538x2200083x. 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/pacfin .

    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.