台灣上市公司的股利政策與企業價值

Dividend Policy and Business Value: Evidence from Taiwan

台灣在1998年實施二稅合一後，股利所得稅的實質稅率降低，上市公司提高現金股利、減少股票股利，但是，總股利不增反減。本研究針對過去42年上市的440家公司進行研究，以橫斷面資料分析相同年代上市公司的股利政策，發現成長機會高的公司發放較低的現金股利，成長機會低的公司發放較高的現金股利，這與企業生命週期理論（DeAngelo et al., 2006）一致。若對公司的股利政策進行時間數列分析，公司上市初期發放較高的股利，藉此建立資本市場的聲譽，隨著上市時間愈久，則股利發放愈少。而投資人對採行穩定股利政策的公司，並沒有給予股價較高的本益比。台灣投資人偏好高股利發放率的公司，在獲利能力相同的情況下，公司需要透過高股利發放率來降低代理成本，反映出小股東權益未受到良好保護，與Lin and Shen （2012）的實證結果一致，支持股利替代模型（La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer and Vishny, 2000; Mitton, 2004）。本文同時考慮現金股利及股票股利，最主要貢獻在補足過去文獻對股票股利說明不足的學術缺口。

The listed firms on the Taiwan Stock Exchange gradually reduced cash dividends and increased stock dividends from 1971 to 1998. When the imputation tax system was introduced in 1998, the listed firms increased cash dividends but reduced stock dividends. Even the tax rate on dividends decreased, the firms did not distribute more aggregate dividends. We find that the firms paid high payout ratios, when they made initial public offerings. However, the longer the firms listed the lower payout ratios they paid. Furthermore, the value stocks paid higher dividend payouts than the growth stocks did. It is consistent with the lifecycle theory (DeAngelo et al., 2006). Additionally, the firms that made stable dividend policy could not get higher price-to-earnings ratio. The listed firms have to pay high payout ratio to reduce the potential agency problem. This result is consistent with the dividend substitute model (La Porta, et al., 2000; Mitton, 2004; Lin and Shen, 2012). This paper contributes the literature in the puzzle of why the listed firms continuously paying stock dividends in Taiwan stock market.