S/F/133. Dissertation. Role of dividend signaling in corporate finance

The dissertation investigates the role of dividend signaling in corporate finance arguing that special dividends used to be commonly paid by NYSE firms but have become rare nowadays. Literature is reviewed on the special dividends history, the impacts of special dividends announcements, the models for analyzing price variations and instability in the market conditions, etc. The activities of special dividends on the MSCI World index are explored for the period from July 1997 to June 2007. Raw data is presented in the appendices. Conclusions are made about the impact of the special dividends on the performance of the company.