Research On The Influence Of Long-term And Short-term Cash Dividends On Investment Efficiency

The investment scale of Chinese enterprises continues to grow,but the efficiency of investment funds has not been improved accordingly,and the problem of non-efficiency investment is very serious.Therefore,finding ways to manage non-efficiency investments has become an important and urgent problem to be solved.In the mature capital market,the cash dividend policy is considered to be an integral part of the company's optimal supervision contract and an important mechanism to alleviate the problem of inefficient investment.However,China ' s capital market started late and the system is still not perfect.Many companies have the "skinflint" phenomenon for a short or long time.Therefore,in order to improve the distribution of cash dividends and protect the interests of investors,the regulatory authorities have issued a series of semi-mandated dividend distribution policies linking cash dividends and refinancing since 2001,especially in 2008,it was stipulated that only when the ratio of accumulated cash dividends in the past three years to the average annual net profit in the past three years reached 30% can equity refinancing be eligible.This urges enterprises to consider not only the distribution of cash dividends in the current period,but also the cumulative distribution of cash dividends in the past three years in order to obtain refinancing.Then,under the long-term and short-term combination perspective of "current period" and "three years",does cash dividend have the same impact on investment behavior? Does it help to alleviate the problem of inefficient investment? This is the key issue of this article.Based on the theory of principal-agent theory,information asymmetry theory,financing constraint theory,dividend agency cost theory and dividend signal theory,this paper selects the A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2009 to 2017 as research samples,and based on the background of semi-mandatory dividend distribution policy,empirically tests the impact of short-term and long-term cash dividends on over-investment and under-investment from the current cash dividends and the accumulated cash dividends in the past three years,and reveals the impact mechanism of cash dividend policy on investment efficiency more comprehensively.Firstly,the research hypothesis is put forward through theoretical analysis;Secondly,the empirical model is constructed and the empirical test is carried out by using multiple linear regression;Then,the robustness of the research results is tested by transforming samples,models and variable measurement methods;Finally,further consider the dynamics of the degree of financing constraints on enterprisesand the long-term existence of the property right nature of micro-systems,this paper deeply discusses the impact of financing constraints on the relationship between short-term cash dividends and investment efficiency,and the impact of property rights on the relationship between long-term cash dividends and investment efficiency.The results show that:(1)Long-term and short-term cash dividends have the same influence on over-investment,that is,both short-term and long-term cash dividends can inhibit over-investment,and cash dividends have a governance effect on over-investment.(2)The impact of short-term and long-term cash dividends on under-investment is different,short-term cash dividends help to curb under-investment,while long-term cash dividends have a U-shaped relationship with under-investment.(3)Considering financing constraints,short-term cash dividends have a stronger inhibitory effect on over-investment,but a lower inhibitory effect on under-investment.(4)Considering the nature of property rights,compared with state-owned enterprises,the negative relationship between long-term cash dividends and over-investment and the U-shaped relationship with under-investment are more significant in non-state-owned enterprises.The above research conclusions fully reveal the mechanism of long-term and short-term cash dividends on investment efficiency,make up for the shortcomings of the existing research from a single point of view,unify and expand the existing research conclusions to a certain extent,and also provide some reference for enterprises to improve investment efficiency and perfect cash dividend policy.The contributions of this paper are as follows:(1)From the current cash dividends and the accumulated cash distribution in the past three years,this paper studies the impact of long-term and short-term cash dividends on over-investment and under-investment,forming a comparative study of short-term cash dividends and long-term cash dividends,which makes up for the deficiency of the existing researches that are mostly demonstrated from the current cash dividends,that is,the short-term perspective,and more comprehensively reveals the impact of cash dividends on investment efficiency,thus contributing to the unification of the existing research conclusions to a certain extent.(2)Considering the dynamics of the degree of financing constraints and the long-term existence of the property right nature of the micro-system,this paper discusses in depth the impact of financing constraints on the relationship between short-term cash dividends and investment efficiency and the impact of property right nature on the relationship between long-term cash dividends and investment efficiency,which expands the research scope of long-term and short-term cash dividends and investment efficiency,and is beneficial to enterprises with different financing constraints and different property rights to better formulate and implement cash dividend policies.(3)Starting from the theories of dividend agency cost and dividend signal,which are directly related todividends,this paper discusses the impact mechanism of cash dividends on over-investment and under-investment,enriches the relevant research on the economic consequences of cash dividends,reveals the important position of cash dividends,and provides empirical evidence for the usefulness and necessity of cash dividends.