This paper tests whether firms altered their dividend and share repurchase policies in response to the 2003 reductions … in shareholder tax rates. We predict that firms substituted dividends for repurchases, because the reduction in dividend … (particularly officers and managers) when setting dividend and share repurchase policies. …

reduction in the dividend and capital gains tax rates for individuals. We find that directors and officers, but not other …

from 38.1 percent to 15 percent. This study analyzes dividend declarations in the quarter following passage. Aggregate … dividends rose by 9 percent when boards of directors first met following enactment. Consistent with the dividend changes being … tax-motivated, they are increasing in the percentage of the firm held by individuals. Dividend changes also increased with …

We empirically document that stock prices moved inversely with dividend yields during the May, 1997 week, when the … share prices of other firms. Among firms paying dividends, the change in share prices was decreasing in dividend yields. The …

explanation for the heretofore puzzling finding that, following the unprecedented 2003 reduction in dividend tax rates, non-dividend …-paying firms outperformed dividend-paying firms. Not surprisingly, we find that non-dividend-paying firms are more financial … constrained than dividend-paying firms are. When a firm's financial constraint and dividend choice are jointly considered, we find …