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  3. Journal of Economic Perspectives
  4. Summer 1989
  5. Cash Distributions to Shareholders

Journal of Economic Perspectives

ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)

Cash Distributions to Shareholders

  • Laurie Simon Bagwell
  • John B. Shoven
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 3, no. 3, Summer 1989
(pp. 129–140)
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Abstract

Economists have long been puzzled by why firms pay dividends when alternative methods of rewarding shareholders and financiers exist which involve less taxes. This paper will highlight the fact that firms can distribute cash to equity holders in ways more lightly taxed than dividends. The two methods we examine are share repurchase programs and cash-financed mergers and acquisitions. So why should cash distributions from firms to shareholders ever take the form of dividends? This paper first provides evidence on the explosive growth in dividend cash payments, and then discusses how this evidence should affect theories about corporate finance.

Citation

Bagwell, Laurie Simon, and John B. Shoven. 1989. "Cash Distributions to Shareholders." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 3 (3): 129–140. DOI: 10.1257/jep.3.3.129

JEL Classification

  • 521 Business Finance
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