For-Profit Versus Nonprofit Microfinance: How are the poor affected? [Presentation]

Presentation for the 2008 University Scholars Day at the University of North Texas discussing research on for-profit and nonprofit microfinance and how the poor are affected.
Date: April 3, 2008
Creator: Weinberg, Brian R.; McPherson, Michael & Cox, Gloria C.
Object Type: Presentation
System: The UNT Digital Library
For-Profit Versus Nonprofit Microfinance: How are the poor affected? (open access)

For-Profit Versus Nonprofit Microfinance: How are the poor affected?

This paper discusses research on the microfinance industry, for-profit versus nonprofit models, and the efficacy of microfinance in alleviating poverty.
Date: April 3, 2008
Creator: Weinberg, Brian R.; Cox, Gloria C. & McPherson, Michael
Object Type: Paper
System: The UNT Digital Library
Institutional ownership and dividend policy: A framework based on tax clientele, information signaling and agency costs. (open access)

Institutional ownership and dividend policy: A framework based on tax clientele, information signaling and agency costs.

This study is an empirical examination of a new theory that links dividends to institutional ownership in a framework of both information signaling and agency costs. Under this theory put forth by Allen, Bernardo and Welch in 2000, dividends are paid out to attract tax-favored institutional investors, thereby signaling good firm quality and/or more efficient monitoring. This is based on the premise that institutions are considered sophisticated investors with superior ability and stronger incentive to be informed about the firm quality compared to retail investors. On the agency level, institutional investors display monitoring capabilities, and can detect and correct managerial pitfalls, thus their presence serves as an assurance that the firm will remain well run. The study provides a comprehensive analysis of the implications of the theory by testing various aspects of the relationship between dividends and institutional holdings. Unlike the prevalent literature on this topic, I give specific attention to the different types of institutional investors and their incentives to invest in dividend paying stocks. Moreover, I analyze the signaling and the agency effects on the market reaction to dividend initiations within the framework proposed by the theory. Finally, I test the smoothing effect institutions have on dividends by …
Date: August 2008
Creator: Zaghloul Bichara, Lina
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library