Why Individual Investors want Dividends

The question of why individual investors want dividends is investigated by submitting a questionnaire to a Dutch consumer panel.The respondents indicate that they want dividends, partly because the transaction costs of cashing in dividends are lower than the transaction costs involved in selling shares.The results are inconsistent with the uncertainty resolution theory of Gordon (1961, 1962) and the agency theories of Jensen (1986) and Easterbrook (1984).In contrast, a very strong confirmation is found for the signaling theories of Bhattacharya (1979) and Miller and Rock (1985).The behavioral finance theory of Shefrin and Statman (1984) is not confirmed for cash dividends but is confirmed for stock dividends.Finally, our results indicate that individual investors do not tend to consume a large part of their dividends.This raises some doubt on the effectiveness of the elimination of dividend taxes in order to stimulate the economy.dividends;investment;surveys;transaction costs;agency theory

Booms, busts and behavioural heterogeneity in stock prices

We estimate a behavioural heterogeneous agents model with boundedly rational traders who know the fundamental stock price, but disagree about the persistence of deviations from the fundamental. Some agents (fundamentalists) believe in mean-reversion of stock prices, while others (chartists) expect a continuation of the trend. Agents gradually switch between the two rules, based upon their relative performance, leading to self-reinforcing regimes of mean-reversion and trend-following. For the fundamental benchmark price we use two well-known models, the Gordon model with a constant risk premium and the Campbell-Cochrane consumption-habit model with a time-varying risk premium. We estimate a two-type switching model using U.S. stock prices until 2016Q4. The estimations show an improvement over representative agent models that is both statistically and economically significant. Our model suggests that behavioural regime switching strongly amplifies booms and busts, in particular, the dot-com bubble and the financial crisis in 2008

Why Individual Investors want Dividends

The question of why individual investors want dividends is investigated by submitting a questionnaire to a Dutch consumer panel.The respondents indicate that they want dividends, partly because the transaction costs of cashing in dividends are lower than the transaction costs involved in selling shares.The results are inconsistent with the uncertainty resolution theory of Gordon (1961, 1962) and the agency theories of Jensen (1986) and Easterbrook (1984).In contrast, a very strong confirmation is found for the signaling theories of Bhattacharya (1979) and Miller and Rock (1985).The behavioral finance theory of Shefrin and Statman (1984) is not confirmed for cash dividends but is confirmed for stock dividends.Finally, our results indicate that individual investors do not tend to consume a large part of their dividends.This raises some doubt on the effectiveness of the elimination of dividend taxes in order to stimulate the economy.

Bandwidth renormalization due to the intersite Coulomb interaction

The theory of correlated electrons is currently moving beyond the paradigmatic Hubbard $U$, towards the investigation of intersite Coulomb interactions. Recent investigations have revealed that these interactions are relevant for the quantitative description of realistic materials. Physically, intersite interactions are responsible for two rather different effects: screening and bandwidth renormalization. We use a variational principle to disentangle the roles of these two processes and study how appropriate the recently proposed Fock treatment of intersite interactions is in correlated systems. The magnitude of this effect in graphene is calculated based on cRPA values of the intersite interaction. We also observe that the most interesting charge fluctuation phenomena actually occur at elevated temperatures, substantially higher than studied in previous investigations.Comment: New appendix on benzen

As pequenas brocas do cupuacu, Xyleborus sp. e Hypocryphalus sp. (Coleoptera: Scolytidae): danos e indicacoes de manejo em sistemas agroflorestais de Rondonia.

Trabalho desenvolvido em dois sistemas Agroflorestais na zona rural de Porto Velho - Rondonia. Num deles, ocupando area de 0,6ha, foram plantados cupuacu e bandarra(Schilozobium amazonicum), alem de outras duas especies madeireiras, teca (Tectona grandis) e mogno (Swietenia macrophylla). No outro sistema com area de 1,3ha foram plantadaos cupuacu, pupunha e banana. Alem destas, o sistema recebeu as especies madeireiras: teca, mogno, cedro (Cedrela odorata), ipe (Tabebuia), cerejeira (Torresea acreana, freijo (Cordia sp) e copaiba (Copaifera multijuga). Considerou-se o ataque de Xyleborus sp e Hypocrypahlus sp em relacao as condicoes de cultivo implementadas para o cupuacu em Rondonia. Traz indicacoes de manejo de cultivo em sistemas agroflorestais em areas de "derruba & queima", onde a presenca de tocos(madeira morta) e frequente e significativa.bitstream/item/56213/1/Circ.T-270001.pd

Effect of Short Chain Branching on the Interlamellar Structure of Semicrystalline Polyethylene

We use molecular simulations with a united atom force field to examine the effect of short chain branching (SCB) on the noncrystalline, interlamellar structure typical of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE). The model is predicated on a metastable thermodynamic equilibrium within the interlamellar space of the crystal stack and accounts explicitly for the various chain topologies (loops, tails, and bridges) therein. We examine three branched systems containing methyl, ethyl, and butyl side branches and compare our results to high density polyethylene (HDPE), without branches. We also compare results for two united atom force fields, PYS and TraPPE-UA, within the context of these simulations. In contrast to conventional wisdom, our simulations indicate that the thicknesses of the interfacial regions in systems with SCB are smaller than those observed for a linear polyethylene without branches and that branches are uniformly distributed throughout the interlamellar region. We find a prevalence of gauche states along the backbone due to the presence of branches and an abrupt decrease in the orientational order in the region immediately adjacent to the crystallite

Down-Conditioning of Soleus Reflex Activity using Mechanical Stimuli and EMG Biofeedback

Spasticity is a common syndrome caused by various brain and neural injuries, which can severely impair walking ability and functional independence. To improve functional independence, conditioning protocols are available aimed at reducing spasticity by facilitating spinal neuroplasticity. This down-conditioning can be performed using different types of stimuli, electrical or mechanical, and reflex activity measures, EMG or impedance, used as biofeedback variable. Still, current results on effectiveness of these conditioning protocols are incomplete, making comparisons difficult. We aimed to show the within-session task- dependent and across-session long-term adaptation of a conditioning protocol based on mechanical stimuli and EMG biofeedback. However, in contrast to literature, preliminary results show that subjects were unable to successfully obtain task-dependent modulation of their soleus short-latency stretch reflex magnitude

Imaging of the ejection process of nanosecond laser-induced forward transfer of gold

Laser-induced forward transfer is a direct-write process suitable for high precision 3D printing of several materials. However, the driving forces related to the ejection mechanism of the donor ma-terial are still under debate. So far, most of the experimental studies of nanosecond LIFT, are based on post process analysis of either the donor layer and/or the deposits, which were transferred to the receiving substrate. To gain further insights into the ejection dynamics, this article presents results of a series of imaging experiments of the release process of nanosecond LIFT of a 200 nm thick gold donor layer. Images were obtained using a setup which consists of two dual-shutter cameras. Both cameras were combined with a 50× long-distance microscope and used to capture coaxial and side-view images of the ejection process. Bright field illumination of the scene was accomplished by a 6 ns dual-cavity laser source. For laser fluence just above the transfer threshold, the formation of a jet and the subsequent release of a single droplet was observed. The droplet diameter was esti-mated to be about 2 μm. Analysis of the coaxial images indicates the emission of a spectral broad range light which was identified as thermal radiation