Investor Tax Heterogeneity, Ex-Dividend Prices, Volumes, and Trades: Evidence from an Emerging Market

Abstract

We analyze 987 ex-dividend events in Taiwan stock market between January 1992 and December 2006, and find that differential taxes really matter for the share prices and investors behaviors around the ex-dividend day. Ex-day price drop ratio increases with the investors’ average preference for dividend relative to capital gains. The excess volume around the ex-dividend day is positively correlated with the degree of tax heterogeneity and the gains from dividend capturing activities, and is negatively associated with the risk and transaction cost. We also find that wealthy investors sell shares cum-dividend and reverse to buy on ex-day; whilst less-wealthy investors, proprietary traders, and corporation shareholders trade in the opposite direction. Overall, our results provide support for the dynamic dividend clientele hypothesis.