← Search

Journal of Financial Economics Vol. 60 No. 1 2001

Corporate payout policy and managerial stock incentives

George W. Fenn1; Nellie Liang2,3

1 Bates White and Ballentine, Tow Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA · 2 Federal Reserve · 3 Federal Reserve Board of Governors

open access

Abstract

We examine how corporate payout policy is affected by managerial stock incentives using data on more than 1,100 nonfinancial firms during 1993–97. We find that management stock ownership is associated with higher payouts by firms with potentially the greatest agency problems – those with low management stock ownership and few investment opportunities or high free cash flow. We also find that management stock options are related to the composition of payouts. We find a strong negative relationship between dividends and management stock options, as predicted by Lambert et al (1989), and a positive relationship between repurchases and management stock options. Our results suggest that the growth in stock options may help to explain the rise in repurchases at the expense of dividends.

DOI
10.1016/s0304-405x(01)00039-3
Volume
60
Issue
1
Pages
45-72
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Cite