We show that while firms that typically pay dividends already have high ratios of retained-earnings-to-total-equity (RE/TE) and high propensities to pay (PTP) early on, firms that typically do not pay dividends have persistently low RE/TE and low PTP even after 20 years of growth. This...

We find the investment-cash-flow-sensitivity (ICFS) decreases with a firm's asymmetric informational imperfection about growth (AI), a variable highly persistent over time. Firms with distinctly initial AI have distinct future investment styles and financing patterns. Higher initial AI predicts...