We compare the cross-sectional variation in the dividend payout policies of companies across 32 countries. Beyond the impact of firm-specific accounting and financial variables, this study investigates how the country level variations: shareholder demand due to demographic variations and...

This paper investigates the association between taxes and the cost of equity capital in an international setting that allows for exogenous, cross-sectional variation in corporate and investor tax rates. Using a sample of firms from 33 countries over a 21-year period, we find that the cost of...

Based on a review of international and regional responses to the global financial and economic crisis and its implications for finance in Asia, Douglas Arner and Lotte Schou-Zibell draw lessons for Asian financial systems with regard to the scope of regulation; financial standards; supervision,...

This paper explores the relationship between employee rights and dividend policy across countries. Using labor right index as a proxy for agency costs of employees, we test the association between labor rights and dividend policies across countries. The empirical results reveal that labor rights...

This paper explores the relationship between employee rights and dividend policy across countries. Using labor right index as a proxy for agency costs of employees, we test the association between labor rights and dividend policies across countries. The empirical results reveal that labor rights...

I study the relation between corporate diversification and labor productivity in a sample of over 600,000 firms from 89 countries. Across the entire sample, greater diversification is associated with significantly lower labor productivity. Contrary to theories emphasizing the inefficient use of...

This study seeks to regress the forward P/Es on firms' fundamentals as measured on global market basis. Starting from theoretical premises (DDM), the paper develops a linear multivariate model in order to capture (for US, Australia / New Zeland / Canada, Europe, Japan and Emerging Markets quoted...

We test the impact of taxes and governance systems on dividend payouts across countries. We show that, unlike previous studies, firms in strong investor protection countries pay lower cash dividends than in weak protection countries when the classical tax system is implemented, but they...

We document a 5 percentage point decline in the share of global corporate income paid to labor from the mid-1970s to the late 2000s. Increased dividend payments did not absorb all of the resulting increase in profits, and therefore, the supply of corporate savings increased by over 20 percentage...

We investigate dividend smoothing behaviors of approximately 6,000 firms from 28 countries. The data find a wide variation in the extent of dividend smoothing across countries, while US firms smooth dividends the most. Firms with a concentrated ownership structure adjust their dividends quickly,...