Using a unique database of over 3400 listed industrial companies, we examine the evolution of dividend policy from 1989 to 2003 in the fifteen nations that were members of the European Union in May 2004. As in the United States, the fraction of European firms paying dividends declines...

We examine changes in firms' dividend payouts following an exogenous shock to the information asymmetry problem between managers and investors. Agency theories predict a decrease in dividend payments to the extent that improved public information lowers managers' need to convey their commitment...

Using a database of over 4100 listed industrial companies, we examine the evolution of cash dividends and share repurchases from 1989 to 2005 in the fifteen nations that were members of the European Union before May 2004. As in the United States, the fraction of European firms paying dividends...

In this paper, we describe the development and current status of anti-manipulation rules as they apply to wholesale electricity and natural gas markets in the United States and the European Union, including the institutions that are responsible for overseeing these rules. We then compare and...

The Caribbean Community Council for Finance and Planning (COFAP) at its Twelfth meeting held in March 2008, decided that a major element of the integration programme for capital markets should be the formulation of a uniform securities law for adoption by Member States. At the meeting of COFAP,...

From European integration to domestic politics to the development of the global economy, technocracy and private ordering have shaped economic behaviour. Such transformative private-driven forces of economic activity flourished through the promulgation of voluntary standards. In view of the...

Increased international commerce between the United States and faster growing economies such as The People’s Republic of China (PRC), as well as third world economies rich in natural resources but poor in infrastructure like Nigeria, have created the potential for significant exposure to...

Research suggests that firms can use either debt or dividends as a commitment device to mitigate the free cash flow problem. We hypothesize that firms which face limitations on debt may use increased dividend payments as a second-best bonding device. Limitations on debt are implicit in state...

This Article reports results of an empirical study that suggests that the current economic crisis has changed managerial behavior in the US in a way that may impede economic recovery. The study finds a strong, statistically significant and economically meaningful, positive correlation between...

The European Union (EU) has been debating for several years whether to change from the legal capital regime as regulated under the Second Company Law Directive to a solvency test regime as applied in the US, for example. Based on an analysis of direct compliance costs and capital maintenance...