In perfect and complete financial markets Miller and Modigliani (1961) show that a firm's value is unaffected by its dividend policy. Taxation, asymmetric information, incomplete contracts, institutional constraints, and transaction costs make dividend policy important. We examine the effects of...

U.K. company insiders, such as directors, were legally allowed to trade in the shares of their own companies up until the Companies Act of 1980. We investigate the trading behaviour of directors over the period 1893 to 1907 in the U.K. Although insider trading was profitable, we find relatively...