Reducing agency conflicts through bank dividend payout decisions: the role of opacity and ownership structure

We empirically examine whether banks’ dividend decisions are influenced by their degree of opacity and ownership structure. We find that banks with concentrated ownership structure pay lower dividends when they have high degrees of opacity, in line with the hypothesis that majority shareholders pay lower dividends to extract higher levels of private benefits. We do not observe such expropriation behaviour from managers in widely held banks. Further analysis shows that higher levels of shareholder protection and stronger supervisory regimes help to constrain opportunistic behaviour of majority shareholders. Our findings have critical policy implications for the Basel 3 implementation of restrictions on dividend payouts.     

股利政策的因素分析：制度和技术的解释——基于公司成长性特征的实证分析

本文以763家上海证券交易所A股上市公司2003年的横截面数据为观察值，从制度和技术两个层面实证分析了现金股利政策的影响因素，分别考察了股权结构和组织特征对现金股利支付率的解释力。本文发现，股权结构（股权集中度和大股东持股）和组织特征（盈利能力、盈余水平、现金拥有量、公司规模和财务杠杆）均对现金股利政策具有一定的影响（而且大多数影响在统计上是显著的）；大股东整体上具有分配现金股利的倾向和能力。企业成长性机会能够弱化大股东集团分配现金股利的激励，并促使公司保留更多的现金用于有价值的投资机会。     

双重委托代理下的股利政策研究

我国上市公司股权相对集中或高度集中,存在大股东与经营者、中小股东与大股东之间的双重委托代理关系,大股东利用信息不对称攫取中小股东利益.本文将股利政策作为一个可观测变量引入单层、双重委托代理模型,详细分析了降低代理成本的途径.研究结论认为,在单层和双重委托代理关系下,将股利政策作为一种信息传递机制,写入激励合同,可以降低风险成本和总代理成本.     

Corporate Governance and the Public Interest

Corporate governance has long been a concern for industrial economists but not typically a centrepiece of policy. One reason is that policy design has been based on a market‐orientated approach to the theory and impact of the firm. In contrast, this paper is rooted in a strategic decision‐making perspective that makes corporate governance a central policy issue. Moreover, whereas responses to corporate scandals have focused on shareholders wronged by managers, we see the significance of corporate governance very differently. Merely to punish managers who fail shareholders is to ignore systemic failures, namely that, by design, managers are not democratically accountable to all interests in corporations’ activities. The impact of modern corporations turns crucially on who governs. In practice preferences over strategy vary across actors but not all interests are currently being represented in decision making, resulting in a failure to govern in the public interest. As solutions, we consider the design of company law and also more immediate ways forward, focusing on regulation and democratically controlled public agencies. Our prime concern is the fundamental significance of active, effective citizens. Throughout, the arguments are illustrated using examples from various countries and industries.     

产权性质、税收成本与上市公司股利政策

文章研究了上市公司控股股东的税收成本差异对上市公司股利政策的影响。作为股利政策的决策者,控股股东须权衡股利政策的成本和收益,其中税收成本是影响股利政策的重要因素之一。不同性质的控股股东对税收成本的关注程度存在显著差异:由于税利分离程度较高,民营控股股东对现金股利的税收成本更为敏感,尤其是在自然人直接控股的上市公司。研究发现,自然人控股公司最不偏好采用现金股利的分配方式以规避税收成本,而国有控股公司更倾向于发放较高的现金股利。实证结果支持了文章的假说,即不同产权所隐含的税收成本差异是影响上市公司股利政策的重要因素。     

股权结构与股利政策的发展综述及展望

作为公司财务理论三大支柱之一的股利政策,一直是一个难解之谜。2006年,股权分置改革取得了阶段性的胜利,它解决了长期以来因“同股不同权”而带来的公司治理方面的诸多问题。国际上对股权结构主要从股权流通性、股权集中度、股权制衡度等方面进行探究,而我国关于股权结构与股利政策关系的实证研究主要集中在股权流通性上,研究表明：我国非流通股偏好现金股利,而流通股偏好股票股利。国外研究表明：股权集中度与股利支付水平负相关,而我国则相反。至于股权制衡度,欧洲与亚洲亦得出相反的结论。     

现金股利政策:控制权人挖掘利益侵占"隧道"的工具

传统经典的股利理论都把现金股利政策看做实现股东价值最大化的工具，并通过市场的反应对其进行检验。但是，它们都忽略了公司的“法律”性和控制权对现金股利政策的影响。现金股利政策是公司“法律”之一，它是控制权人意志的体现，渗透着控制权人的利益倾向，现金股利政策可能成为公司控制权人利益侵占“隧道”的挖掘工具。控制权人利用现金股利挖掘利煎侵占“隧道”可能有三种情况：经营者对股东利益侵占“隧道”的挖掘、大股东对小股东利益侵占“隧道”的挖掘、公司对债权入利益侵占“隧道”的挖掘。在我国还存在着一种特殊的利益侵占“隧道”——非流通股股东对流通股股东利益侵占的“隧道”。     

Exploring the causal effect of religious piety on dividend policy: evidence from historical religious identification

Theory suggests that religious piety is associated with greater risk aversion and more conservative financial policies. Returns to shareholders through dividends are much more certain than returns through capital gains expected to be realized far into the future. We hypothesize that religious piety leads to a higher likelihood of dividend payments. We exploit the variation in religious piety across the US counties and estimate the effect of religion on dividend policy. To draw a causal inference, we use historical religious piety in 1971 as the instrument. Our two-stage least squares results confirm that religious piety induces firms to pay larger dividends.     

THE IDIOSYNCRATIC PATTERN OF RUSSIAN CORPORATE DIVIDEND POLICY DURING ITS FORMATIVE ERA

In general, the dividend payout pattern for Russian corporations during their formative period from 1998 to 2006 was seemingly independent of company earnings, size, growth opportunities and capital structure, as such firm policies appear not to conform to any of the main extant dividend payout theories. The only exception we find is that of utility firms, which were inclined to pay consistent dividends. Utility firms tended to be partly owned by the state and were subject to price regulation. Consequently, they may have had limited investment prospects. Our findings suggest that dividend payout policies in non‐market economies may be driven by non‐traditional determinants, such as the state's overall industrial strategy.     

Dividend policy: Shareholder rights and creditor rights under the impact of the global financial crisis

The extant literature shows that shareholder and creditor rights positively affect corporate payout policy in a static macroeconomic environment. This study examines how the effects of shareholder and creditor rights on dividend policy change under the impact of the global financial crisis. We posit that this exogenous shock increases agency costs of both shareholders and creditors. With a sample of 133,631 firm-year observations from 23,890 firms incorporated in 41 countries, we find that both shareholder and creditor rights are less effective in dividend decisions in the post-crisis period and the extent of shareholder (creditor) expropriation in the post-crisis period is larger when creditors (shareholders) are adequately protected.     

利益相关者与股利政策:代理冲突与博弈

本文以股权分置改革为背景,利用2004—2008年中国上市公司经验数据,从代理冲突和博弈的角度分析了利益相关者与股利政策之间的关系。研究表明,我国上市公司利益相关者各方在股利分配上存在政策博弈现象。博弈的结果表现为具有控股股东的公司比其他公司具有更高的现金股利支付率;具备再融资条件的公司比其他公司具有更高的现金股利支付率;第一大股东参与管理的程度越低,现金股利的支付率越高,但这一特征并不显著。同时,在股权分置改革后,我国上市公司存在少分现金股利的倾向。     

公司治理结构、股利分配与企业创新绩效三元关系实证研究

公司治理是现代企业管理理论的重要组成部分,直接影响公司经营状况、股利政策及创新绩效。采用回归分析法对公司治理、股利支付及企业创新绩效关系进行实证分析。研究发现,董事会结构、第一大股东持股比例与公司创新绩效显著正相关;第一大股东持股比例及前十大股东持股比例平方和越高,企业越倾向高股利支付;高股利支付与企业创新绩效间并无正相关关系,股利支付与企业创新绩效间存在负相关关系,但不显著。最后,从完善公司治理和股利政策方面提出了促进企业技术创新的政策建议。     

利益获取:股利共享还是资金独占?

控股股东通过股利分红和直接的资金占用是其获取控制权利益的重要途径,两者具有很强的互补关系。通过分析1997—2000年我国285个国有企业股票首次公开发行后三年的数据,我们发现改制模式是影响控股股东选择利益获取方式的主要因素,非完整改造公司的控股股东直接占用上市公司资金的激励较强,从而公司支付的股利水平较低,而完整改造公司则相反。实证研究还发现不同改制模式公司中,控股股东持股比例对股利支付水平的影响程度也不同。     

我国上市公司股利政策有效性实证研究

本文运用回归分析方法,分析了我国上市公司股利政策传递盈利能力的有效性,以及与盈利能力增长的相关性。得出,股利政策尤其是现金股利在一定程度上反映了上市公司盈利的信息,具有一定的信号显示功能。上市公司高派现有助于公司绩效的提高。     

Deregulation and governance: plight of Japanese banks in the 1990s

The governance structure of public corporations is determined by the agency relationship between shareholders and managers, and the agency theory predicts that deregulation of an industry leads to governance adaptation. Deregulation of the Japanese banking business in the 1980s offers an interesting case study in this framework, as Japanese banks fell into serious solvency problems in the post-deregulation 1990s. This paper investigates whether ineffective governance was responsible for the plight of Japanese banks. The sample is 384 corporations that were listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange between 1983 and 1990, which includes 59 banks. One of the findings is that bank shareholders allowed more diffuse ownership structure after deregulation, which demonstrates that the agency theory did not hold for shareholders of Japanese banks.     

企业多元化战略与财务决策的关系：一个多视角的分析框架

本文试图从理论上系统分析在不同的多元化战略下(相关多元化和无关多元化)应采取何种财务决策。在结合不同理论视角的同时,分析企业不同的参与者类群(债权人,股东,高层管理者、部门管理者)的心理和行为决策。财务决策采用常用的分类:投资(长期和短期)、融资(权益融资和债务融资)和股利分配(高股利和低股利)。理论分析认为,相关多元化的公司倾向于进行长期投资,使用股权融资和低现金股利政策;无关多元化的公司倾向于进行短期投资,使用债权融资及高现金股利政策。     

融资政策与增长速度:来自企业层面的证据

企业的融资政策对企业的增长速度具有决定性作用,恰当的融资方式安排能够减少股东与经理的代理成本、提高企业发展速度;通过降低资产消耗、提高生产水平、调整企业利润分配政策,企业也能够获得较快的增长速度。但对我国上市公司的实证研究表明,我国上市企业的增长速度与融资政策之间存在高度的依赖关系,从而企业持续快速的增长在现实中不太可能实现,股东和经理人对企业的发展速度和可以达到的规模都应该保持一个合理的预期。     

旅游上市公司股利分配政策研究

2009年底国务院确定将旅游业培育成国民经济的战略性支柱产业和人民群众更加满意的现代服务业,这为旅游上市公司的发展带来了机遇与挑战。从国内目前研究来看,研究旅游上市公司股利分配政策的文章很少,运用整体分析、对比分析和相关性分析方法研究了近十年旅游上市公司股利分配政策呈现的特点及影响因素。研究发现,旅游上市公司股利分配政策特点鲜明并支持股利信号传递理论;相关性分析表明旅游上市公司每股现金股利与每股收益、每股净资产之间呈现中等程度相关性,每股现金股利与每股货币资金之间呈正相关性,每股现金股利与资产负债率之间呈较弱的负相关性。这说明旅游上市公司经营业绩、规模、货币资金量、资本结构对其股利分配政策有不同程度的影响。     

派现行为下的控股股东利益转移问题研究

本文运用深市上市公司的数据,对我国上市公司派现与控股股东利益转移行为之间的关系进行了实证分析.结果表明,控股股东将现金股利作为利益转移的方式之一,控股股东控股优势越大,公司派现意愿越强,派现水平也越高;派现意愿与公司上市年限负相关,而与上年配股情况正相关;此外,债务和股权制衡能够在一定程度上制约这种利用派现政策实施的利益转移行为.     

财政政策:遵守规则还是相机抉择

2004年10月,诺贝尔经济学奖的颁发,又一次引发了人们对财政政策时间一致性的关注,遵守规则的政策主张似乎又一次回归主流。通过比较英、美等发达市场经济国家财政政策的变迁以及通过分析政策规则与相机抉择不同的理论假设,我认为在制定财政政策时必须两者兼顾。我国现行的稳健(中性)财政政策恰恰体现了这种思想的内涵与本质。