Using the staggered adoption of anti-re-characterization laws (ARL) as an exogenous shock to creditor rights, we study the causal effects of creditor rights on borrowers' accounting conservatism. ARL precludes the re-characterization of securitized assets which otherwise can be re-characterized...

We find that dividend paying firms exhibit better corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance in the following year than non-paying firms. We find that this relation can be explained by stakeholder relationship management through CSR, as dividend payout reflects the shareholder-stakeholder...