The Information Signaling Hypothesis of Dividends: Evidence from Cointegration and Causality Tests
用协整和因果检验研究143家非公用事业公司和72家公用事业公司的股利与盈利的时间关系，发现约五分之一非公用事业公司和三分之一公用事业公司的股利政策符合信息信号假说，且信号公司通常规模更小、资产增长率更低、杠杆率更高。
This paper uses cointegration and causality tests to study the temporal behavior of dividends and earnings at the individual firm level. We find that, for a sample of 143 non‐utility firms, approximately one‐fifth of the firms exhibits a temporal relationship between dividends and earnings that is consistent with the information signaling hypothesis of dividends. In the case of 72 utilities, about a third exhibit dividend policies that are consistent with the signaling notion of dividends. Further examination of firm characteristic differences between signaling and non‐signaling firms shows that, in the case of non‐utility firms, signaling firms tend to be smaller, have a lower growth rate of total assets, and have a higher leverage ratio. In the case of utilities, we find no major differences in firm characteristics between signaling and non‐signaling firms.