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Is the Dividend Puzzle Solved?

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  • Maria Rosa Borges

Abstract

Since the 1960’s, there is an ongoing debate on dividend policy, which remains a controversial issue to this day. Why do firms pay dividends? The academics have not been able to agree on any convincing explanation, and the same time, many even claim that firms should not pay dividends, and so we have a “dividend puzzle”. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the main findings of two more recent fields of research, and to discuss why they seem to be the most promising avenues for further research, to solve the “dividend puzzle”, and to build a complete payout policy theory. These fields are: (i) the agency theory and (ii) the lifecycle theory. Besides being very intuitive, these theories are consistent with most empirical facts on U.S. firms’ payout policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Rosa Borges, 2008. "Is the Dividend Puzzle Solved?," Working Papers Department of Economics 2008/38, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    • Handle: RePEc:ise:isegwp:wp382008
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    Cited by:

    1. Edson Kambeu, 2017. "Significance of a change in dividend payment frequency," International Journal of Finance & Banking Studies, Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 6(1), pages 134-140, January.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

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

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