An Empirical Investigation of Asymmetric Behavior in Corporate Dividend Policy

Hassan Shirvani and Barry Wilbratte

Economic Inquiry, 1997, vol. 35, issue 4, 847-57

Abstract: Employing three alternative measures of ability to pay, the authors find support for the Lintner hypothesis that firms pursue a long-run target payout ratio and also that current earnings better explain long-run dividends than cash flows or stock prices. The evidence further indicates that corporations adjust dividends with a ratchet effect, raising them more readily than they lower them. More specifically, when dividends are below target levels, firms move toward equilibrium by increasing them, but when dividends are above target levels, firms approach equilibrium by restricting dividend increases as earnings rise. Copyright 1997 by Oxford University Press.

Date: 1997
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:ecinqu:v:35:y:1997:i:4:p:847-57

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Economic Inquiry is currently edited by Preston McAfee

More articles in Economic Inquiry from Western Economic Association International Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().