Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the informational role played by ownership concentration. Design/methodology/approach The authors use bivariate vector autoregressive models to document the informational role of ownership concentration. Findings The findings suggest that the returns of firms with concentrated ownership structure lead the returns of firms with dispersed ownership structure in Morocco during the period between 2004 and 2014. The authors argue that this lead-lag relationship arises because a better information environment in firms with concentrated ownership structure enables quick incorporation of relevant information. The results are robust under different information regimes. Originality/value The authors believe that this paper is one of the first evidence on the informational role of ownership concentration in Morocco.

Purpose Is location in the financial center of a country significant determinant of a firm’s dividend policy? The purpose of this paper is to answer this question within the context of an emerging market. Design/methodology/approach The authors use variety of techniques (OLS regression, panel regression with random effects, TOBIT regression and quintile regression) to document the effect of location on dividend policies of Indian firms during the period between 2001 and 2016. Findings The results show significantly higher dividend payout ratios for firms headquartered in Mumbai, the main financial center of India. The results are robust for alternate proxy of dividend policy and for different sub-samples. The results also show that these results are more pronounced for firms with better information environment (firms with high analyst coverage). Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, most of the prior research overlooks how a location of firm’s headquarter in the financial center affects its dividend decisions. This paper fills this gap by documenting the relationship between the two in India.

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PurposeThe aim of this paper is to document the effect of democracy on the financing constraints faced by private firms.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses the data from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys to test the arguments presented in this paper in a large sample of private firms from 92 developing countries.FindingsThe results show that firms headquartered in more democratic countries have better access to finance than firms headquartered in less democratic countries. The findings are robust to the comprehensive inclusion of relevant controls and to a number of sensitivity tests. The authors' findings highlight an important channel through which democracy can affect the business environment of a country.Originality/valueThe authors believe that this paper is an initial attempt to document the effect of democracy on the financing constraints faced by private firms.