IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/prg/jnlpep/v2021y2021i1id758p90-114.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Social Progress Explain the Dividend Payout Decision?

Author

Listed:
  • Hanaan Yaseen

Abstract

This paper investigates whether national social progress influences dividend payout policy of companies around the world. Using a large database of 12,312 companies from 70 countries, for 7 years (2008-2014), I provide strong evidence that social progress is significant in relation to important corporate decisions on paying dividends. Dividend payout policy is explained by the social progress of the country in which the company is active. Access to higher education, satisfaction of basic human needs, overall wellbeing and opportunities positively influence the dividend payout ratio and the propensity to pay dividends. Moreover, the Social Progress Index may be more significant than GDP per capita in relation to dividend policy. Hence, the new measure of quantifying the population's standard of living, from the social perspective and not from the economic one, is more relevant in the decision-making process on dividend payout.

Suggested Citation

  • Hanaan Yaseen, 2021. "Does Social Progress Explain the Dividend Payout Decision?," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2021(1), pages 90-114.
    • Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpep:v:2021:y:2021:i:1:id:758:p:90-114
    DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.758
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://pep.vse.cz/doi/10.18267/j.pep.758.html
    Download Restriction: free of charge
    File URL: http://pep.vse.cz/doi/10.18267/j.pep.758.pdf
    Download Restriction: free of charge
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.18267/j.pep.758?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. Dragotă, Victor & Pele, Daniel Traian & Yaseen, Hanaan, 2019. "Dividend payout ratio follows a Tweedie distribution: International evidence," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 13, pages 1-35.
    3. Dragota, Mihaela & Dragota, Victor & Tatu, Lucian & Tatu, Delia, 2009. "Income Taxation Regulation And Companies’ Behaviour: Is The Romanian Companies’ Dividend Policy Influenced By The Changes In Income Taxation?," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 6(1), pages 76-93, March.
    4. England, Richard W., 1998. "Measurement of social well-being: alternatives to gross domestic product," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 89-103, April.
    5. Easterbrook, Frank H, 1984. "Two Agency-Cost Explanations of Dividends," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(4), pages 650-659, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Hanaan Yaseen, . "Does Social Progress Explain the Dividend Payout Decision?," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 0.
    2. repec:rfb:journl:v:10:y:2018:i:2:p:0077-094 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Hanaan Yaseen, 2018. "Dividend policy and socio-cultural factors: some preliminary findings," The Review of Finance and Banking, Academia de Studii Economice din Bucuresti, Romania / Facultatea de Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori / Catedra de Finante, vol. 10(2), pages 077-094, December.
    4. Victor Dragotă & Camelia Delcea, 2019. "How Long Does It Last to Systematically Make Bad Decisions? An Agent-Based Application for Dividend Policy," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-34, November.
    5. Fidrmuc, Jana P. & Jacob, Marcus, 2010. "Culture, agency costs, and dividends," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 321-339, September.
    6. Nishant B. Labhane, 2019. "Dividend Policy Decisions in India: Standalone Versus Business Group-Affiliated Firms," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 20(1), pages 133-150, February.
    7. González, Maximiliano & Guzmán, Alexander & Pombo, Carlos & Trujillo, María Andréa, 2012. "Family involvement and dividend policy in listed and non-listed firms," Galeras. Working Papers Series 034, Universidad de Los Andes. Facultad de Administración. School of Management.
    8. Roni Michaely & Stefano Rossi & Michael Weber & Michael Weber, 2017. "The Information Content of Dividends: Safer Profits, Not Higher Profits," CESifo Working Paper Series 6751, CESifo.
    9. 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.
    10. Andres, Christian & Doumet, Markus & Fernau, Erik & Theissen, Erik, 2015. "The Lintner model revisited: Dividends versus total payouts," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 56-69.
    11. H.Kent Baker & Gary E. Powell & E.Theodore Veit, 2002. "Revisiting the dividend puzzle," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(4), pages 241-261.
    12. du Jardin, Philippe & Séverin, Eric, 2011. "Dividend policy," MPRA Paper 44382, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. 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).
    14. Eva Liljeblom & Sabur Mollah & Patrik Rotter, 2015. "Do dividends signal future earnings in the Nordic stock markets?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 493-511, April.
    15. Wong, Jin Boon & Hasan, Mostafa Monzur, 2021. "Oil shocks and corporate payouts," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    16. Yang, Bao & Chou, Hsin-I. & Zhao, Jing, 2020. "Innovation or dividend payout: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 180-203.
    17. Alpa Dhanani, 2005. "Corporate Dividend Policy: The Views of British Financial Managers," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7‐8), pages 1625-1672, September.
    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. Ma-Ju Wang, 2014. "A Study on the Differences in Adopting Cash Refund Capital Reduction and Stock Repurchase By Companies in Bull and Bear Stock Markets," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 4(9), pages 1237-1253, September.
    20. Goyal, Abhinav & Muckley, Cal, 2013. "Cash dividends and investor protection in Asia," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 31-43.
    21. 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.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General
    • G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy
    • G40 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - General

    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:prg:jnlpep:v:2021:y:2021:i:1:id:758:p:90-114. 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: Stanislav Vojir (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/uevsecz.html .

    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.