Monetary Loosening and Dividend Policy: Evidence from Vietnamese Stock Market

Abstract

Vietnam is a promising laboratory to examine the effect of monetary loosening policy on corporate dividend decisions due to the following reasons: (1) Vietnamese government conducts monetary loosening policy continuously between 2007 and 2017; (2) the monetary policy relies mainly on money supply; and (3) credit channel is the dominant monetary transmission channel. With a research data including 4,493 observations from 2008 to 2017, we find that both the choice to pay dividends and dividend payout ratio are positively affected by money supply and this effect is mitigated by corporate cash holdings. In addition, money supply is positively related to speed of dividend adjustment.