SIZE, LEVERAGE, AND DIVIDEND RECORD AS DETERMINANTS OF EQUITY RISK

Abstract

The last decade has witnessed significant advancements in capital theory and its application to corporate finance, investment policy, and portfolio analysis. More recently a growing body of empirical work has undertaken the task of systematically testing the positive implications of the theory. The study of risk has occupied a central position in this endeavor as it provides the link between the various branches of finance theory. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the empirical determinants of equity risk through the analysis of the firm's underlying characteristics, specifically, the firm's size, its financial leverage, and its dividend record. Section I summarizes the literature, Section II provides the theoretical framework, Section III describes the empirical model and the data, Section IV presents the statistical results, Section V analyzes the effect of excluded variables, and Section VI provides a summary and conclusions. I. Empirical Literature on Risk The following survey is not exhaustive; it intends to trace the direction