This study identifies factors that shaped cash disbursement distribution policies employed by Brazilian public companies listed on the Brazilian Securities, Commodities and Futures Exchange (BM&FBOVESPA) from 1995 to 2011. Relationships between Dividends/Total Assets and potential determinants discussed in the literature, including firm size, corporate governance, profitability, leverage, market to book, liquidity, investment, risk, profit growth, information asymmetry and agency conflict, are examined. The following econometric methods are employed: (1) Tobit, given the nature of the dividend data, and (2) the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to control for endogenous regressors. Significant positive variables found include size, return on assets (ROA), market to book, liquidity and profit growth. It can thus be inferred that larger firm size, profitability, market value, liquidity and profit growth correlate with greater firm propensity to distribute money to shareholders, thus supporting the theory of corporate finance. Significant negative variables found include leverage, liquidity squared, capex, beta and tag along 100%. It is thus inferred that more significantly leveraged companies that invest more heavily in fixed assets and that exhibit high liquidity, higher risk and less conflict between controlling and minority shareholders will be less likely to pay dividends to shareholders.

No abstract

A teoria clássica de gestão de caixa afi rma que manter reservas de caixa pode infl uenciar negativamente os resultados da empresa. O objetivo deste estudo é investigar a relação entre a manutenção de reservas de caixa e o desempenho operacional de empresas brasileiras de capital aberto. Utilizando dados em painel de 167 empresas brasileiras no período de 1995 a 2009 e aplicando os métodos pooled-OLS e system-GMM foi possível estabelecer uma relação robusta e estatisticamente signifi cativa entre reservas de caixa e desempenho. Os resultados evidenciaram que o desempenho medido pelo Retorno sobre o Ativo (ROA) e o Valor de Mercado avaliado pela razão Market-to-Book são afetados positivamente pela retenção de caixa das empresas. Em suma, concluiu-se que a retenção de grandes volumes de caixa pode ser considerada uma estratégia competitiva viável para as empresas, contrariando a teoria clássica sobre o assunto.

No abstract

Stock markets have been rapidly developed around the world during the last 20 years. Accordingly, there is sincere academic interest in understanding the determinants of this phenomenon. Most studies advocate that the development of a stock market is influenced by a few individual country variables such as the origin of its legal system, enforcement of law, accounting patterns, transparency, corporate ownership structure, and the level of creditor and minority investor protection. This paper extends previous empirical literature concerning the determinants of stock market development. We built a unique sample of 50 countries, ranging from those with emerging to developed economies. From a set of 60 potential variables, 12 factors were employed using multiple regression. The research breaks new ground by using different constructs taken from financial literature, such as the Human Development Index (HDI, 2010), Managerial Skills of Entrepreneurs and Democracy of the Country. Results showed that more factors may influence the development of stock markets, such as the adaptability of firms and the openness of a country, helping avoid the multicollinearity effects that may have affected earlier studies.