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Educating investors about dividends

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  • Hackethal, Andreas
  • Hanspal, Tobin
  • Hartzmark, Samuel M.
  • Bräuer, Konstantin

Abstract

We educate investors about the benefits of dividend reinvestment and costs of misperceiving dividends as free income. The intervention increases planned dividend reinvestment in survey responses. Using trading records, we observe a causal increase in dividend reinvestment in the field of roughly 50 cents for every euro received. This holds relative to investors' prior behavior and various control samples. Investors who learned the most from the intervention update their trading the most. The results suggest the free dividends fallacy is a significant source of dividend demand. Our study demonstrates that simple, targeted, and focused educational interventions can affect investment behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Hackethal, Andreas & Hanspal, Tobin & Hartzmark, Samuel M. & Bräuer, Konstantin, 2024. "Educating investors about dividends," CFS Working Paper Series 725, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:cfswop:306862
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    References listed on IDEAS

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