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

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Author Info
Jorge Farinha () (CETE, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto)
Óscar López de Foronda () (Departamento de Economia y Administracion de Empresas, Área de Economía Financiera y Contabilidad, Universidad de Burgos, España)
Abstract

This paper provides new international evidence on the relationship between dividend policy and insider ownership by analysing a sample of firms from countries characterised by an Anglo-Saxon tradition and a matching sample of companies from countries with 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 from 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 dividend policy as a disciplining mechanism in countries with different legal systems and distinct agency problems.

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Paper provided by Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto in its series CETE Discussion Papers with number 0509.

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Length: 34 pages
Date of creation: Dec 2005
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Handle: RePEc:por:cetedp:0509

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Related research
Keywords: dividend policy corporate governance insider ownership international financial markets dynamic panel data and GMM estimation

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Capital and Ownership Structure
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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  1. Rafael La porta & Florencio Lopez-De-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert Vishny, 2002. "Investor Protection and Corporate Valuation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(3), pages 1147-1170, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Rafael LaPorta & Florencio Lopez de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1997. "Legal Determinants of External Finance," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1788, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
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  3. Olympia Bover & Manuel Arellano, 1997. "Estimating limited dependent variable models from panel data," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 21(2), pages 141-166, May. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-29, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. 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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  7. Jorge Farinha, 2003. "Dividend Policy, Corporate Governance and the Managerial Entrenchment Hypothesis: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 30(9-10), pages 1173-1209. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Aivazian, Varouj & Booth, Laurence & Cleary, Sean, 2003. "Dividend policy and the organization of capital markets," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 101-121, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 2000. "Investor protection and corporate governance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 3-27. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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