Local dividend clienteles
By: Bo Becker, Zoran Ivkovich, Scott Weisbenner.
Contributors: Ivkovich, Zoran.; Weisbenner, Scott J.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 15175; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 15175.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Description: "We exploit demographic variation to identify the effect of dividend demand on firm payout policy.  Retail investors tend to hold local stocks and older investors prefer dividend-paying stocks.  Together, these tendencies generate geographically-varying demand for dividends.  Firms headquartered in areas in which seniors constitute a large fraction of the population are more likely to pay dividends, initiate dividends, and have higher dividend yields.  However, the fraction of seniors is uncorrelated with share repurchases, investment, or profitability, suggesting that geographic variation in dividend payout is not driven by some unmeasured firm characteristic affecting the ability or willingness to distribute cash to shareholders.  We also provide indirect evidence as to why firm managers may cater to the demand for dividends from local seniors.  Overall, these results suggest that the composition of a firm's investor base affects corporate policy choices"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 8/17/2009.

Includes bibliographical references.

Also available in print.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.