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The relation between dividends and insider ownership in different legal systems: international evidence

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  • Jorge Farinha
  • Oscar Lopez-de-Foronda

Abstract

This paper provides new international evidence on the relationship between dividend policy and insider ownership by analysing a sample of USA, UK and Irish firms characterized by an Anglo-Saxon tradition and a matching sample of other EU companies from Civil Law legal systems. We hypothesize that, due to the different characteristics of both the legal system and the nature of agency conflicts in firms from those countries, the relation between dividend policies and ownership by insiders will be considerably distinct between the two sets of companies. We find that while in firms with an Anglo-Saxon tradition the relation between dividends and insider ownership follows the pattern negative-positive-negative, in Civil Law countries the relation is positive-negative-positive. These results are consistent with our hypotheses and breed new insights into the role of the dividend policy as a disciplining mechanism in countries with different legal systems and distinct agency problems.

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  • Jorge Farinha & Oscar Lopez-de-Foronda, 2009. "The relation between dividends and insider ownership in different legal systems: international evidence," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 169-189.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eurjfi:v:15:y:2009:i:2:p:169-189
    DOI: 10.1080/13518470802588718
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    Cited by:

    1. Fidrmuc, Jana P. & Jacob, Marcus, 2010. "Culture, agency costs, and dividends," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 321-339, September.
    2. Kim, Woo Sung & Kiymaz, Halil & Oh, Sekyung, 2020. "Do country-level legal, corporate governance, and cultural characteristics influence the relationship between insider ownership and dividend policy?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    3. Michele Fabrizi & Elisabetta Ipino & Michel Magnan & Antonio Parbonetti, 2016. "Real Regulatory Capital Management and Dividend Payout: Evidence from Available-for-Sale Securities," CIRANO Working Papers 2016s-57, CIRANO.
    4. Florackis, Chris & Kanas, Angelos & Kostakis, Alexandros, 2015. "Dividend policy, managerial ownership and debt financing: A non-parametric perspective," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 241(3), pages 783-795.
    5. Byrne, Julie & O’Connor, Thomas, 2012. "Creditor rights and the outcome model of dividends," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 227-242.
    6. Salvador Bertomeu & Antonio Estache, 2019. "Should Infrastructure Regulators regulate Dividends? Hints from a Literature Survey," Working Papers ECARES 2019-18, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    7. Brunzell, Tor & Liljeblom, Eva & Löflund, Anders & Vaihekoski, Mika, 2014. "Dividend policy in Nordic listed firms," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 124-135.
    8. Gonzalez, Maximiliano & Molina, Carlos A. & Pablo, Eduardo & Rosso, John W., 2017. "The effect of ownership concentration and composition on dividends: Evidence from Latin America," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 1-18.
    9. Alexandros Sikalidis & Konstantinos Bozos & Antonios Chantziaras & Christos Grose, 2022. "Influences of family ownership on dividend policy under mandatory dividend rules," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 939-967, October.
    10. Gyimah, Daniel & Gyapong, Ernest, 2021. "Managerial entrenchment and payout policy: A catering effect," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    11. Thomas O'Connor & Julie Byrne, 2012. "Shareholder and creditor legal rights and the outcome model of dividends," Economics Department Working Paper Series n225-12.pdf, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.
    12. Berezinets, I. & Ilina, Y. & Alekseeva, L., 2014. "Ownership structure and dividend policy: A study of Russian public companies with dual class shares," Working Papers 6384, Graduate School of Management, St. Petersburg State University.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    dividend policy; corporate governance; insider ownership; international financial markets; dynamic panel data and GMM estimation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

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