IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jfinan/v55y2000i6p2499-2536.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Theory of Dividends Based on Tax Clienteles

Author

Listed:
  • Franklin Allen
  • Antonio E. Bernardo
  • Ivo Welch

Abstract

This paper explains why some firms prefer to pay dividends rather than repurchase shares. When institutional investors are relatively less taxed than individual investors, dividends induce “ownership clientele” effects. Firms paying dividends attract relatively more institutions, which have a relative advantage in detecting high firm quality and in ensuring firms are well managed. The theory is consistent with some documented regularities, specifically both the presence and stickiness of dividends, and offers novel empirical implications, e.g., a prediction that it is the tax difference between institutions and retail investors that determines dividend payments, not the absolute tax payments.

Suggested Citation

  • Franklin Allen & Antonio E. Bernardo & Ivo Welch, 2000. "A Theory of Dividends Based on Tax Clienteles," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(6), pages 2499-2536, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jfinan:v:55:y:2000:i:6:p:2499-2536
    DOI: 10.1111/0022-1082.00298
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-1082.00298
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/0022-1082.00298?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brennan, Michael J & Thakor, Anjan V, 1990. "Shareholder Preferences and Dividend Policy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(4), pages 993-1018, September.
    2. Admati, Anat R & Pfleiderer, Paul & Zechner, Josef, 1994. "Large Shareholder Activism, Risk Sharing, and Financial Market Equilibrium," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(6), pages 1097-1130, December.
    3. John, Kose & Williams, Joseph, 1985. "Dividends, Dilution, and Taxes: A Signalling Equilibrium," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(4), pages 1053-1070, September.
    4. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1986. "Large Shareholders and Corporate Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages 461-488, June.
    5. Lucas, Deborah J. & McDonald, Robert L., 1998. "Shareholder Heterogeneity, Adverse Selection, and Payout Policy," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 33(2), pages 233-253, June.
    6. Ian Ayres & Peter Cramton, 1994. "Relational Investing and Agency Theory," Papers of Peter Cramton 94clr, University of Maryland, Department of Economics - Peter Cramton, revised 09 Jun 1998.
    7. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1995. "What Do We Know about Capital Structure? Some Evidence from International Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1421-1460, December.
    8. Ofer, Aharon R & Thakor, Anjan V, 1987. "A Theory of Stock Price Responses to Alternative Corporate Cash Disbursement Methods: Stock Repurchases and Dividends," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(2), pages 365-394, June.
    9. Barclay, Michael J. & Smith, Clifford Jr., 1988. "Corporate payout policy : Cash Dividends versus Open-Market Repurchases," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 61-82, October.
    10. Titman, Sheridan & Trueman, Brett, 1986. "Information quality and the valuation of new issues," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 159-172, June.
    11. Chowdhry, Bhagwan & Nanda, Vikram, 1994. "Repurchase Premia as a Reason for Dividends: A Dynamic Model of Corporate Payout Policies," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 7(2), pages 321-350.
    12. Hausch, Donald B & Seward, James K, 1993. "Signaling with Dividends and Share Repurchases: A Choice between Deterministic and Stochastic Cash Disbursements," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 6(1), pages 121-154.
    13. Smith, Michael P, 1996. "Shareholder Activism by Institutional Investors: Evidence for CalPERS," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 227-252, March.
    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. 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.
    2. Oded, Jacob, 2011. "Stock repurchases: How firms choose between a self tender offer and an open-market program," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 3174-3187.
    3. Golbe, Devra L. & Nyman, Ingmar, 2013. "How do share repurchases affect ownership concentration?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 22-40.
    4. Renneboog, L.D.R. & Trojanowski, G., 2005. "Patterns in Payout Policy and Payout Channel Choice of UK Firms in the 1990s," Discussion Paper 2005-002, Tilburg University, Tilburg Law and Economic Center.
    5. Kumar, Praveen & Langberg, Nisan & Oded, Jacob & Sivaramakrishnan, K., 2017. "Voluntary disclosure and strategic stock repurchases," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 207-230.
    6. Chris Mitchell, 2019. "The Lock-In Effect and the Corporate Payout Puzzle," ISER Discussion Paper 1070r, Institute of Social and Economic Research, The University of Osaka, revised Aug 2021.
    7. Chris Mitchell, 2019. "The Lock-In Effect and the Corporate Payout Puzzle," ISER Discussion Paper 1070, Institute of Social and Economic Research, The University of Osaka.
    8. Baker, H. Kent & Powell, Gary E. & Veit, E. Theodore, 2002. "Revisiting the dividend puzzle: Do all of the pieces now fit?," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 241-261.
    9. Brav, Alon & Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Michaely, Roni, 2005. "Payout policy in the 21st century," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(3), pages 483-527, September.
    10. Komlan Sedzro, 2010. "A Unifying Approach For Comparing Onetime Payouts And Recurring Dividends," Global Journal of Business Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 4(2), pages 141-154.
    11. Hussein Abedi Shamsabadi & Byung-Seong Min & Richard Chung, 2016. "Corporate governance and dividend strategy: lessons from Australia," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(5), pages 583-610, October.
    12. Manoj Subhash Kamat & Manasvi M. Kamat, 2016. "On Choosing an Optimal Dividend Policy in India: A Test of Substitution Hypothesis, 1999–2016," Emerging Economy Studies, International Management Institute, vol. 2(2), pages 199-222, November.
    13. Hyo Kim & Hoje Jo & Soon Yoon, 2013. "Controlling shareholders’ opportunistic use of share repurchases," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 203-224, August.
    14. Szomko Natalia, 2015. "Investor Reaction to Information on Final Dividend Payouts on the Warsaw Stock Exchange – an Event Study Analysis," International Journal of Management and Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of World Economy, vol. 45(1), pages 127-146, March.
    15. Henrik Cronqvist & Rüdiger Fahlenbrach, 2009. "Large Shareholders and Corporate Policies," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(10), pages 3941-3976, October.
    16. Jiang, George J. & Liu, Chang, 2021. "Getting on board: The monitoring effect of institutional directors," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    17. Nekat, Kai & Nippel, Peter, 2007. "The impact of a firm's payout policy on stock prices and shareholders' wealth in an inefficient market," Manuskripte aus den Instituten für Betriebswirtschaftslehre der Universität Kiel 619, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Institut für Betriebswirtschaftslehre.
    18. Mike Burkart & Salvatore Miglietta & Charlotte Ostergaard, 2023. "Why Do Boards Exist? Governance Design in the Absence of Corporate Law," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 36(5), pages 1788-1836.
    19. Gerald J. Lobo & Ashok Robin & Kean Wu, 2020. "Share repurchases and accounting conservatism," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 699-733, February.
    20. Yuan, Rongli & Xiao, Jason Zezhong & Zou, Hong, 2008. "Mutual funds' ownership and firm performance: Evidence from China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1552-1565, August.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

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

    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:bla:jfinan:v:55:y:2000:i:6:p:2499-2536. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/afaaaea.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.