Stockholder conflicts and dividends
Berzins, Janis (BI Norwegian Business School)
Stacescu, Bogdan (BI Norwegian Business School)
Bohren, Oyvind (BI Norwegian Business School)
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Empresa

Imprint:	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Economia de l'Empresa 2012
Description:	42 p.
Abstract:	Conflicts of interest between majority and minority stockholders affect a large proportion of firms in any economy, but has received little attention in the empirical literature. We examine the link between the potential for such conflicts and the firm's payout policy on a large sample of Norwegian private firms with controlling stockholders and detailed ownership data. Our evidence shows that the stronger the potential conflict between the stockholders, the higher the proportion of earnings paid out as dividends. This tendency to reduce stockholder conflicts by dividend payout is more pronounced when the minority is diffuse and when a family's majority block is held by a single family member. We also find evidence that a minority-friendly payout policy is associated with higher future minority investment in the firm. These results are consistent with the notion that potential agency costs of ownership are mitigated by dividend policy when the majority stockholder benefits from not exploiting the minority.
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Series:	Departament d'Economia de l'Empresa. Documents de treball
Series:	Document de treball (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Economia de l'Empresa) ; 12/2
Document:	Working paper
Subject:	Empreses ; Direcció i administració

42 p, 213.9 KB

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Research literature > Working papers > Department of Business. Working papers