Dividends and economic policy uncertainty: International evidence |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting, Frederick University Cyprus, 7 Frederickou Street, Nicosia 1036, Cyprus;2. Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, CY 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus;3. Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, CY 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus; School of Management and Business, King''s College London; and Sloan School of Management, MIT;1. NIDA Business School, National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), Bangkok, Thailand;2. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Thailand, Thailand;3. University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia;4. Pennsylvania State University, Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies, Malvern, PA 19355, United States;5. La Rochelle Business School, Excelia Group, La Rochelle, France |
| |
| Abstract: | We provide the first international evidence on the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on dividend policy. Using data from 19 countries, we find that a high level of EPU is positively associated with dividend payout. This evidence is robust to using alternative dividend payout measures, to controlling for other sources of uncertainty, and to addressing endogeneity. We further find that the effect of EPU on dividend policy is moderated by firms' free cash flows and governance quality, and by the quality of country-level indicators of shareholder protection, disclosure, enforcement, and creditor protection. Collectively, our novel evidence suggests that dividends help mitigate agency problems during high-EPU periods. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
