Dividend policy under conditions of capital market and signaling equilibria

This article develops a generalized capital asset pricing model with dividend signaling under the assumption of asymmetric information between corporate insiders and outside investors. The generalized capital asset pricing model is derived under reasonably plausible conditions that are sufficient for the existence of dividends. The model provides a theoretical framework for testing the effect of dividends on equity price and returns. Further, if dividends serve as a credible signal and the cost of signaling is positive, paying higher dividends results in higher systematic risk.