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Dividends and share repurchases in the European Union

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  • von Eije, Henk
  • Megginson, William L.
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    Abstract

    We examine cash dividends and share repurchases from 1989 to 2005 in the 15 nations that were members of the European Union before May 2004. As in the United States, the fraction of European firms paying dividends declines, while total real dividends paid increase and share repurchases surge. We also show that financial reporting frequency is associated with higher payout, and that privatized companies account for almost one-quarter of total cash dividends and share repurchases. Our regression analyses indicate that increasing fractions of retained earnings to equity do not increase the likelihood of cash payouts, whereas company age does.

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    Bibliographic Info

    Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Journal of Financial Economics.

    Volume (Year): 89 (2008)
    Issue (Month): 2 (August)
    Pages: 347-374

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    Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:89:y:2008:i:2:p:347-374

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    Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505576

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    References

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    Citations

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    Cited by:
    1. Huang, Juan Juan & Shen, Yifeng & Sun, Qian, 2011. "Nonnegotiable shares, controlling shareholders, and dividend payments in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 122-133, February.
    2. Ginglinger, Edith & Megginson, William & Waxin, Timothée, 2011. "Employee ownership, board representation, and corporate financial policies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 868-887, September.
    3. Ferris, Stephen P. & Jayaraman, Narayanan & Sabherwal, Sanjiv, 2009. "Catering effects in corporate dividend policy: The international evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(9), pages 1730-1738, September.
    4. Thomas McCluskey & Aoife Broderick & Amanda Boyle & Bruce Burton & David Power, 2010. "Evidence on Irish financial analysts' and fund managers' views about dividends," Qualitative Research in Financial Markets, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 2(2), pages 80-99, October.
    5. 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, Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies (CEFS), Technische Universität München.
    6. Cahit Adaoglu, 2008. "Dividend Policy of the ISE Industrial Corporations: The Evidence Revisited (1986-2007)," Journal of BRSA Banking and Financial Markets, Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, vol. 2(2), pages 113-135.
    7. Tom Engsted & Thomas Q. Pedersen, 2009. "The dividend-price ratio does predict dividend growth: International evidence," CREATES Research Papers 2009-36, School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus.
    8. Ampenberger, Markus & Schmid, Thomas & Achleitner, Ann-Kristin & Kaserer, Christoph, 2009. "Capital structure decisions in family firms: empirical evidence from a bank-based economy," CEFS Working Paper Series 2009-05, Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies (CEFS), Technische Universität München.
    9. Renneboog, Luc & Trojanowski, Grzegorz, 2011. "Patterns in payout policy and payout channel choice," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1477-1490, June.
    10. Leibrecht, Markus & Bellak, Christian & Wild, Michael, 2009. "Does lowering dividend tax rates increase dividends repatriated?: evidence of intra-firm cross-border dividend repatriation policies by German Multinational Enterprises," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2009,19, Deutsche Bundesbank, Research Centre.
    11. Kellard, Neil M. & Nankervis, John C. & Papadimitriou, Fotios I., 2010. "Predicting the equity premium with dividend ratios: Reconciling the evidence," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 539-551, September.
    12. Korkeamaki, Timo & Liljeblom, Eva & Pasternack, Daniel, 2010. "Tax reform and payout policy: Do shareholder clienteles or payout policy adjust?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 572-587, September.
    13. Bank, Steven & Cheffins, Brian & Goergen, Marc, 2009. "Dividends and politics," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 208-224, June.
    14. Haw, In-Mu & Ho, Simon S.M. & Hu, Bingbing & Zhang, Xu, 2011. "The contribution of stock repurchases to the value of the firm and cash holdings around the world," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 152-166, February.

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