Adjustment Behaviours of Dividend Payouts in G7 Countries: A Different Look

Abstract

The topic of the dividend adjustment behaviours of firms in G7 countries was analysed in this study. After dividing the entire sample of firms into countries and separating listed, delisted, and unlisted firms by their listing type, we investigated the question using quantile regressions. Our analyses provided the following results. First, payout ratios showed decreasing tendencies irrespective of both country origin and listing types. Second, the speeds of dividend adjustment in Japan and Italy were estimated to be the fastest by quantile, whereas that of Canadian firms was estimated to be the slowest. Third, when the same issue was examined for listing types, unlisted firms showed the fastest speed of adjustment. In general, the estimated curves for both the speed of adjustment and the required time for partial adjustment were found to be cross-sectionally unstable and nonlinear with respect to dividend levels.