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Appearing and Disappearing Dividends: The Link to Catering Incentives

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Malcolm Baker
Jeffrey Wurgler

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Abstract

We document a close link between fluctuations in the propensity to pay dividends and catering incentives. First, we use the methodology of Fama and French (2001) to identify a total of four distinct trends in the propensity to pay dividends between 1963 and 2000. Second, we show that each of these trends lines up with a corresponding fluctuation in catering incentives: The propensity to pay increases when a proxy for the stock market dividend premium is positive and decreases when it is negative. The lone disconnect is attributable to Nixon-era controls.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 9995.

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Date of creation: Sep 2003
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:9995

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G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy

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  1. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 2001. "Disappearing dividends: changing firm characteristics or lower propensity to pay?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 3-43, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Bagwell, Laurie Simon & Shoven, John B, 1989. "Cash Distributions to Shareholders," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 129-40, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Merton H. Miller & Franco Modigliani, 1961. "Dividend Policy, Growth, and the Valuation of Shares," Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34, pages 411. [Downloadable!]
  4. Malcolm Baker & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2003. "A Catering Theory of Dividends," NBER Working Papers 9542, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Dann, Larry Y., 1981. "Common stock repurchases : An analysis of returns to bondholders and stockholders," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 113-138, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. John R. Graham, 2003. "Taxes and Corporate Finance: A Review," Review of Financial Studies, Oxford University Press for Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(4), pages 1075-1129. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Black, Fischer & Scholes, Myron, 1974. "The effects of dividend yield and dividend policy on common stock prices and returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 1-22, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Philippe Aghion & Jeremy C. Stein, 2004. "Growth vs. Margins: Destabilizing Consequences of Giving the Stock Market What it Wants," NBER Working Papers 10999, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Raj Chetty & Emmanuel Saez, 2004. "Dividend Taxes and Corporate Behavior: Evidence from the 2003 Dividend Tax Cut," NBER Working Papers 10841, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Malcolm Baker & Robin Greenwood & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2008. "Catering Through Nominal Share Prices," NBER Working Papers 13762, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Malcolm Baker & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2007. "Investor Sentiment in the Stock Market," NBER Working Papers 13189, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Neves, Elisabete & Pindado, Julio & Torre, Chabela de la, 2006. "Dividends: New evidence on the catering theory," Documentos de Trabajo "Nuevas Tendencias en Dirección de Empresas". Working Papers "New Trends on Business Administration". 2006-14, Interuniversitary Doctorate Program "New Trends on Business Administration", Universities of Valladolid, Burgos and Salamanca (Spain). Programa de Doctorado Interuniversitario "Nuevas Tendencias en Di. [Downloadable!]
  6. Renneboog, L.D.R. & Trojanowski, Grzegorz, 2005. "Patterns in payout policy and payout channel choice of UK firms in the 1990s," Discussion Paper 22, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Bogdan Stacescu, 2006. "Dividend Policy in Switzerland," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 153-183, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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