The impact of government ownership on dividend policy in China

We investigate the impact of State ownership on Chinese corporate dividend policy. We find that Chinese firms' dividend payout rates respond fairly quickly to earnings changes, and the average actual payout ratio for Chinese firms falls between the payout ratios for emerging-market and developed firms. These results are consistent with the dividend policies of developing economies in general. We also find that dividend payouts among dividend-paying firms, and the likelihood that a firm will pay a dividend, are increasing in State ownership. Our findings are consistent with the State's need for cash flow as a partial motivation for continued State ownership of a significant portion of the corporate economy, and support the agency and tax clientele explanations for dividend policy.     

Majority and Minority Ownership of Publicly-Traded Firms: A Test of the Value of Control Using Market Multiples

Publicly-traded companies that are controlled by other publicly-traded companies provide a unique setting in which to test whether the market values of majority and minority ownership interests are proportionate to their ownership percentages. Test results indicate that the value of subsidiary net assets and net income are greater to majority shareholders than to minority shareholders. However, comparison of asset and income valuation with a sample of diffusely-held firms indicates that this valuation asymmetry is not due to a wealth transfer from the minority to the majority owners but to a discounting of the portion of the subsidiary owned by the minority shareholders.     

后股权分置时代上市公司大股东交易行为研究

股权分置改革，有利于上市公司规范市场行为和完善公司治理，减少大股东通过“隧道挖掘”对中小投资者的利益侵蚀。但在后股权分置时代，如果缺乏有效的制度和法律规范，大股东可能由原来对上市公司的控制变成对公司和二级市场双重控制，市场操纵的模式将发生变化。本文在借鉴国际经验和境外市场曾经出现的与大股东交易相关的案例的基础上，通过对大股东交易目的、动机、影响因素、行为方式和各国法律规范的全面考察，重点对大股东可能出现的违规交易行为或侵害中小投资者权益的交易行为进行了分析，并提出了相应的政策建议。     

Ownership, Investor Protection and Earnings Expectations

Abstract:  This study examines the interactive influence of corporate ownership, corporate governance and investor protection on the incorporation of current value shocks in the accounting earnings of European companies. This influence is investigated not only by means of the association between current news and current earnings but also with respect to the association of the same news with expected future earnings, and its persistence. Consistent with the contractual explanation of accounting conservatism, it is shown that the accounting behaviour examined is a function of the demand created by shareholders, and that the institutional arrangements in force are of lesser significance in the presence of widely held ownership. On the other hand, greater separation between supervision and management and stronger investor protection are seen to be influential under close ownership, as these are shown to curb aggressive accounting in the form of a persistently lower recognition of bad news in earnings. Evidence is also provided that stricter corporate governance practices in Europe can substitute for weaknesses in investor protection provisions in law.     

中国股票市场股利政策(英文)

本文解释了鼓励政策的定义和现今中国企业通常使用的股利政策方法。文中将对中国与西方的股利政策的异同进行对比,同时分析了具有中国特色股利政策形成的原因,并且提出了一些改善现状的意见和建议。     

中国股票市场股利政策

本文解释了鼓励政策的定义和现今中国企业通常使用的股利政策方法.文中将对中国与西方的股利政策的异同进行对比,同时分析了具有中国特色股利政策形成的原因,并且提出了一些改善现状的意见和建议.     

Are Dividends Disappearing or Shrinking? Evidence from the Istanbul Stock Exchange

This paper examines the dividend payment decision of publicly owned firms listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) from 1991 through 2006. There is a decline in the percentage of net dividend payers, accompanied by a decline in the aggregate level of net real dividends paid. Contrary to the situation in developed markets, earnings and dividends concentration have declined over the sample period. The first mandatory dividend payment regulation pushed some firms to collect the distributed dividends back through rights issues and this resulted in low net dividend payments. One of the striking findings of this paper reveals that a majority of ISE firms prefer dividend omissions rather than dividend reductions. Once a firm keeps paying dividends, it puts much effort into increasing dividend payments rather than reducing them. Further, dividend payment and reduction decisions are affected by the current earnings of the firm and financial crisis significantly explains both the dividend payment and dividend reduction decisions.     

Ownership Structure and Dividend Preference

Most Chinese listed companies have been transformed from state-owned enterprises; the resulting institutional transformation is characterized by the emergence of highly concentrated ownership and state-owned shares, which may exert an influence on corporate finance. We examine the relationship between ownership structure and cash dividend preference and then reexamine the same relationship with different levels of growth opportunities. The results reveal a positive relationship between cash dividend preference and state ownership, but the same relationship exists only in firms facing lower levels of investment opportunity. However, the ratio of employee shares and tradable shares correlates significantly and negatively with cash dividend preference.     

海外投资者保护基金制度及借鉴

保护投资者尤其是保护中小投资者,是证券市场监管的核心内容,也是证券市场健康运行的基础.国际上,证券投资者保护机制已经有30多年的运行经验,很多方面值得我们借鉴.本文从法律框架、组织模式、资金来源、赔偿机制、运作情况等方面,对国际上主要国家和地区的证券投资者保护基金制度进行了比较,并结合我国证券市场特征,对我国证券投资者保护制度的建立和完善提出若干建议.     

Changes to Income Trust Taxation in Canada: Investor Reaction and Dividend Clientele Theory

Abstract:  This paper explores the relationship between tax-induced dividend clientele theory and the recent changes to the taxation of income trusts in Canada. On October 31, 2006, the Canadian government announced the Tax Fairness Plan ( TFP ) calling for the elimination of the considerable tax advantage enjoyed by income trusts. Generally, distributions from income trusts are now taxed at rates comparable to those imposed on corporate dividends. We examine market reaction to the  TFP  to address three issues: first, whether the valuation effect of a dividend tax increase is consistent with the traditional or the new view of dividend taxation; secondly, whether the market reaction to tax increases has a differential impact on firm value that is related to the tax preferences of taxable, tax-exempt, and foreign investor tax clienteles; and thirdly, whether firms change their dividend policies in response to the preference of institutional investors (tax-based dividend policy effect) or whether institutional investors are sorting themselves across firms based on their dividend policies (investor sorting effect). Our results provide strong evidence as follows. First, the valuation effect in reaction to the  TFP  announcement is consistent with the traditional view of dividend taxation – i.e. that taxes on dividends reduce the net return to investors, increase the firm's cost of capital and lower the firm's ability to access capital markets, thereby discouraging investment and savings. Secondly, we saw that trusts with a larger percentage of their units held by tax-exempt, low-tax, and foreign investors had a higher decline in value when compared with trusts held mostly by ordinary taxable investors. These results support dividend tax clientele theory. Finally, we observed changes in institutional investor clienteles consistent with the investor sorting effect.     

股指期货创新中的投资者保护探讨

股指期货的推出,在交易机制和违规行为等方面,均对投资者产生了一定影响,因此股指期货创新中的投资者保护应成为其应有之义。本文认为股指期货在杠杆交易、双向交易和到期日制度方面会对投资者造成一定影响;另外在信息敏感性和跨市场联动性等方面也会对投资者造成影响。当前股指期货市场对投资者保护主要从投资者适当性,风险揭示和保护基金三方面着力,有待扩展和深化。本文在借鉴美国、日本、香港等成熟股指期货市场投资者保护立法及实践的基础上,提出了完善我国股指期货投资者保护的一些建议。     

标准的投资者保护制度和替代性投资者保护制度：一个概念性分析框架

基于在标准的投资者保护制度和替代性投资者保护制度之间做出的区分,本文提出了一个概念性分析框架,并对国有股权的制度安排在中国股票市场发展中的作用进行了初步的解释。标准的投资者保护制度——市场、法律和管制——固然重要,但是对于转轨国家而言,由于缺乏支撑标准的投资者保护制度运转的制度资源,利用替代性的投资者保护制度对于股票市场的早期发展就是至关重要的。     

新证券法下“投资者适当性义务”的实现路径——从“规则监管”到“原则监管”的转变

新证券法有关“投资者适当性义务”的规定反映了近年来国际上重视金融消费者保护的“行为监管”趋势。行为监管要求将原有单纯满足监管规范要件的“形式合规”转向以实现金融消费者保护为结果目标的“实质合规”,由此金融消费者保护方式呈现出从“规则监管”向“原则监管”的转向。同样地,本次修法将以往中国证监会具体、细化的投资者适当性规则上升为抽象的法定义务,这就决定了券商在销售证券或者提供服务的过程中不能完全以所谓的“程序合规”作为其完成“投资者适当性义务”的标准,而应以“程序合规+实质合规”来证明其对“投资者适当性义务”要求的满足。新证券法在投资者保护方面呈现出一种明显的“以结果为导向”的原则监管新思路。     

Dividend policy under conditions of capital market and signaling equilibria

This article develops a generalized capital asset pricing model with dividend signaling under the assumption of asymmetric information between corporate insiders and outside investors. The generalized capital asset pricing model is derived under reasonably plausible conditions that are sufficient for the existence of dividends. The model provides a theoretical framework for testing the effect of dividends on equity price and returns. Further, if dividends serve as a credible signal and the cost of signaling is positive, paying higher dividends results in higher systematic risk.