We examine the effects of the world's first comply-or-explain dividend regulation in China's Shanghai Stock Exchange, which requires firms to either pay at least 30% of profits as dividends or explain the use of funds. We find that many firms increased their payout ratio to comply, by increasing...

This study investigates whether product market competition reduces agency problems between controlling shareholders and minority shareholders in Japan. In particular, we examine firms' dividend policies in competitive versus concentrated industries. In a large sample of Japanese firms we find...

This paper examines whether dividend policy is associated with earnings management and whether the relationship varies across countries with wide-ranging degrees of institutional strength and transparency. Based on a sample of 23,429 corporations from 29 countries, we show that dividend payers...

Using a large sample of firms from 45 countries, we find that firms in countries with high climate risk reduce their cash dividends but increasingly use share repurchases to make payouts, suggesting that firms substitute dividends with repurchases to increase their payout flexibility in response...

We examine the effect of increased regulatory enforcement threat on the dividend policies of foreign firms listed in US stock exchanges. The staggered signing of the Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU) by the US and foreign regulators facilitates cross-border regulatory cooperation...