IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/may/mayecw/n225-12.pdf.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Shareholder and creditor legal rights and the outcome model of dividends

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas O'Connor

    (Department of Economics Finance and Accounting, National University of Ireland, Maynooth)

  • Julie Byrne

    (Department of Economics Finance and Accounting, National University of Ireland, Maynooth)

Abstract

In a sample of 22,374 firms from 35 countries, we examine the role of creditor rights, shareholder rights, and corporate governance in determining corporate dividend policy. We find that, while all three variables play a significant role in determining both the likelihood and the dividend amount, the effect of country-level creditor rights dominate. In subsequent analysis, we show that the outcome model is most effective in countries with strong creditor rights. When creditor rights are weak, creditors demand, and firms consent to lower dividends. These findings show that creditors, and not shareholders, exert the greatest influence over corporate dividend policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas O'Connor & Julie Byrne, 2012. "Shareholder and creditor legal rights and the outcome model of dividends," Economics Department Working Paper Series n225-12.pdf, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.
  • Handle: RePEc:may:mayecw:n225-12.pdf
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://repec.maynoothuniversity.ie/mayecw-files/N225-12.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Denis, David J. & Osobov, Igor, 2008. "Why do firms pay dividends? International evidence on the determinants of dividend policy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 62-82, July.
    2. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐De‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2006. "What Works in Securities Laws?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 1-32, February.
    3. Graham Partington, 2009. ""Discussion of" An International Analysis of Dividend Payment Behavior," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3-4), pages 523-529.
    4. Klapper, Leora F. & Love, Inessa, 2004. "Corporate governance, investor protection, and performance in emerging markets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(5), pages 703-728, November.
    5. Julia Sawicki, 2009. "Corporate governance and dividend policy in Southeast Asia pre- and post-crisis," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 211-230.
    6. Jorge Farinha & Oscar Lopez-de-Foronda, 2009. "The relation between dividends and insider ownership in different legal systems: international evidence," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 169-189.
    7. Chay, J.B. & Suh, Jungwon, 2009. "Payout policy and cash-flow uncertainty," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 88-107, July.
    8. Djankov, Simeon & McLiesh, Caralee & Shleifer, Andrei, 2007. "Private credit in 129 countries," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 299-329, May.
    9. Baba, Naohiko, 2009. "Increased presence of foreign investors and dividend policy of Japanese firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 163-174, April.
    10. Acharya, Viral V. & Amihud, Yakov & Litov, Lubomir, 2011. "Creditor rights and corporate risk-taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(1), pages 150-166, October.
    11. Brockman, Paul & Unlu, Emre, 2009. "Dividend policy, creditor rights, and the agency costs of debt," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 276-299, May.
    12. Berkowitz, Daniel & Pistor, Katharina & Richard, Jean-Francois, 2003. "Economic development, legality, and the transplant effect," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 165-195, February.
    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.
    14. Michael S. Rozeff, 1982. "Growth, Beta And Agency Costs As Determinants Of Dividend Payout Ratios," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 5(3), pages 249-259, September.
    15. DeAngelo, Harry & DeAngelo, Linda & Stulz, Rene M., 2006. "Dividend policy and the earned/contributed capital mix: a test of the life-cycle theory," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 227-254, August.
    16. Brockman, Paul & Unlu, Emre, 2011. "Earned/contributed capital, dividend policy, and disclosure quality: An international study," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1610-1625, July.
    17. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    18. Benmelech, Efraim & Bergman, Nittai K., 2011. "Vintage capital and creditor protection," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 308-332, February.
    19. Bartram, Söhnke M. & Brown, Philip & How, Janice C.Y. & Verhoeven, Peter, 2007. "Agency Conflicts and Corporate Payout Policies: A Global Study," MPRA Paper 23244, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Mitton, Todd, 2004. "Corporate governance and dividend policy in emerging markets," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 409-426, December.
    21. Djankov, Simeon & La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei, 2008. "The law and economics of self-dealing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 430-465, June.
    22. Michael R. Roberts & Amir Sufi, 2009. "Control Rights and Capital Structure: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(4), pages 1657-1695, August.
    23. James S. Ang & Rebel A. Cole & James Wuh Lin, 2000. "Agency Costs and Ownership Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 81-106, February.
    24. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    25. Lukas Setia‐Atmaja & George A. Tanewski & Michael Skully, 2009. "The Role of Dividends, Debt and Board Structure in the Governance of Family Controlled Firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(7‐8), pages 863-898, September.
    26. Chae, Joon & Kim, Sungmin & Lee, Eun Jung, 2009. "How corporate governance affects payout policy under agency problems and external financing constraints," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(11), pages 2093-2101, November.
    27. Fodil Adjaoud & Walid Ben-Amar, 2010. "Corporate Governance and Dividend Policy: Shareholders' Protection or Expropriation?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5-6), pages 648-667.
    28. Short, Helen & Zhang, Hao & Keasey, Kevin, 2002. "The link between dividend policy and institutional ownership," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 105-122, March.
    29. Singh, Manohar & Davidson III, Wallace N., 2003. "Agency costs, ownership structure and corporate governance mechanisms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 793-816, May.
    30. Hu, Aidong & Kumar, Praveen, 2004. "Managerial Entrenchment and Payout Policy," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(4), pages 759-790, December.
    31. McKnight, Phillip J. & Weir, Charlie, 2009. "Agency costs, corporate governance mechanisms and ownership structure in large UK publicly quoted companies: A panel data analysis," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 139-158, May.
    32. Nini, Greg & Smith, David C. & Sufi, Amir, 2009. "Creditor control rights and firm investment policy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(3), pages 400-420, June.
    33. Gustavo Grullon & Roni Michaely & Bhaskaran Swaminathan, 2002. "Are Dividend Changes a Sign of Firm Maturity?," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(3), pages 387-424, July.
    34. Lukas Setia‐Atmaja & George A. Tanewski & Michael Skully, 2009. "The Role of Dividends, Debt and Board Structure in the Governance of Family Controlled Firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(7‐8), pages 863-898, September.
    35. Houston, Joel F. & Lin, Chen & Lin, Ping & Ma, Yue, 2010. "Creditor rights, information sharing, and bank risk taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(3), pages 485-512, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Atanassov, Julian & Mandell, Aaron J., 2018. "Corporate governance and dividend policy: Evidence of tunneling from master limited partnerships," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 106-132.
    2. Li, Jialong & Maung, Min & Wilson, Craig, 2018. "Governance and financial development: A cross-country analysis," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 227-239.
    3. Tran, Quoc Trung & Alphonse, Pascal & Nguyen, Xuan Minh, 2017. "Dividend policy: Shareholder rights and creditor rights under the impact of the global financial crisis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 502-512.
    4. Byrne, Julie & O’Connor, Thomas, 2017. "Creditor rights, culture and dividend payout policy," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 60-77.
    5. Lepetit, L. & Meslier, C. & Strobel, F. & Wardhana, L., 2018. "Bank dividends, agency costs and shareholder and creditor rights," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 93-111.
    6. Tran, Quoc Trung, 2020. "Creditor protection, shareholder protection and investment efficiency: New evidence," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    7. Nilakshi Borah & Hui Liang James & Jung Chul Park, 2020. "Does CEO inside debt compensation benefit both shareholders and debtholders?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 159-203, January.
    8. Tahir, Muhammad & Ibrahim, Haslindar & Zulkafli, Abdul Hadi & Mushtaq, Muhammad, 2020. "Corruption, national culture, law and dividend repatriation policy," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 57.
    9. Byrne, Julie & O'Connor, Thomas, 2017. "How do creditors respond to disclosure quality? Evidence from corporate dividend payouts," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 154-172.
    10. Shah, Muhammad Hashim & Xiao, Zuoping & Abdullah,, 2023. "Internal pyramid structure, judicial efficiency, firm-level governance and dividend policy," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 764-785.
    11. Gonzalez, Maximiliano & Molina, Carlos A. & Pablo, Eduardo & Rosso, John W., 2017. "The effect of ownership concentration and composition on dividends: Evidence from Latin America," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 1-18.

    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. Byrne, Julie & O’Connor, Thomas, 2012. "Creditor rights and the outcome model of dividends," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 227-242.
    2. Thomas O'Connor, 2012. "Dividend payout and corporate governance along the corporate life-cycle," Economics Department Working Paper Series n228-12.pdf, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.
    3. 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.
    4. Thomas O'Connor, 2012. "Dividend payout, corporate governance, and the enforcement of creditor rights in emerging markets," Economics Department Working Paper Series n227-12.pdf, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.
    5. Byrne, Julie & O’Connor, Thomas, 2017. "Creditor rights, culture and dividend payout policy," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 60-77.
    6. Thomas O'Connor, 2013. "Dividend payout and corporate governance in emerging markets: which governance provisions matter?," International Journal of Corporate Governance, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 4(2), pages 181-207.
    7. Matt Glendening & Inder K. Khurana & Wei Wang, 2016. "The market for corporate control and dividend policies: Cross-country evidence from M&A laws," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(9), pages 1106-1134, December.
    8. Alzahrani, Mohammed & Lasfer, Meziane, 2012. "Investor protection, taxation, and dividends," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 745-762.
    9. González, Francisco, 2020. "Creditor rights, financial health, and corporate investment efficiency," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    10. Hussain Haroon & Md-Rus Rohani & Al-Jaifi Hamdan Amer & Hussain Rana Yassir, 2022. "Determinants of Corporate Pay-Out Policy and the Moderating Effects of Firm's Growth: Evidence from Pakistan," Studia Universitatis „Vasile Goldis” Arad – Economics Series, Sciendo, vol. 32(3), pages 65-101, September.
    11. Cho, Seong-Soon & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Suh, Jungwon, 2014. "Creditor rights and capital structure: Evidence from international data," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 40-60.
    12. Hamdi Ben-Nasr, 2015. "Government Ownership and Dividend Policy: Evidence from Newly Privatised Firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(5-6), pages 665-704, June.
    13. Chen, Xiaoqi & Chih-Chieh Chris, Hsieh & Tsang, Albert & Xiang, Yi, 2022. "Cross-border enforcement of securities laws and dividend payouts," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(6).
    14. Attig, Najah & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Zheng, Xiaolan, 2021. "Dividends and economic policy uncertainty: International evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    15. Goyal, Abhinav & Muckley, Cal, 2013. "Cash dividends and investor protection in Asia," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 31-43.
    16. Tran, Quoc Trung & Alphonse, Pascal & Nguyen, Xuan Minh, 2017. "Dividend policy: Shareholder rights and creditor rights under the impact of the global financial crisis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 502-512.
    17. Lepetit, L. & Meslier, C. & Strobel, F. & Wardhana, L., 2018. "Bank dividends, agency costs and shareholder and creditor rights," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 93-111.
    18. Duygun, Meryem & Guney, Yilmaz & Moin, Abdul, 2018. "Dividend policy of Indonesian listed firms: The role of families and the state," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 336-354.
    19. Ye, Dezhu & Deng, Jie & Liu, Yi & Szewczyk, Samuel H. & Chen, Xiao, 2019. "Does board gender diversity increase dividend payouts? Analysis of global evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1-26.
    20. Chintrakarn, Pandej & Jiraporn, Pornsit & Treepongkaruna, Sirimon & Mook Lee, Sang, 2022. "The effect of board independence on dividend payouts: A quasi-natural experiment," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Dividend policy; creditor rights; shareholder rights; corporate governance.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • 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:may:mayecw:n225-12.pdf. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/demayie.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.