Institutional tax clienteles and payout policy
By: Mihir A. Desai, Li Jin.
Contributors: Jin, Li.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series -- no. 13283.; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research) -- working paper no. 13283.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 21
Subjects: Tax incentives; Dividends; Corporations -- Taxation
Description: This paper employs heterogeneity in institutional shareholder tax characteristics to identify the relationship between firm payout policy and tax incentives. Analysis of a panel of firms matched with the tax characteristics of the clients of their institutional shareholders indicates that "dividend-averse" institutions are significantly less likely to hold shares in firms with larger dividend payouts. This relationship between the tax preferences of institutional shareholders and firm payout policy could reflect dividend-averse institutions gravitating to low dividend paying firms or managers adapting their payout policies to the interests of their institutional shareholders. Evidence is provided that both effects are operative. Instrumental variables analysis indicates that plausibly exogenous changes in payout policy result in shifting institutional ownership patterns. Similarly, exogenous changes in the tax code indicate that as the tax cost of paying dividends changes, managers alter their dividend policy to serve their institutional shareholders.
Notes: "July 2007"

Includes bibliographical references (p. 19-21).

Also available in PDF from the NBER world wide web site (www.nber.org).