Business Commons^™

An Examination Of The Impact Of Early Retirement Incentives On School District Financial Health, Michael Jon Dean

Wayne State University Dissertations

The combination of state controlled school funding in Michigan, rising employee costs and shrinking school enrollments have caused school districts to seek a variety of cost control measures. One of the measures frequently supported by both school districts and employee unions is the use of Early Retirement Incentives (ERI) to incentivize teachers to separate from the school district via a cash payment.

The purpose of this study was to analyze how offering or not-offering an ERI impacted on the financial health of a school districts in the State of Michigan. Selected school districts in Michigan were surveyed regarding any ERI's …

Economic Deregulation And Corporate Dividend Policy, Xinghua Gao

Wayne State University Dissertations

I investigate the evolution of corporate dividend policy in response to the changing operating environment induced by economic deregulation from the 1970s-1990s. Specifically, I examine the impact of deregulation on the firm's propensity to pay dividends, dividend payout ratio, the sensitivity of corporate dividend policy to current and past earnings, changes in the information content of dividends, and changes in corporate financing behavior along the deregulation process. Empirical results reveal that economic deregulation per se does not have significant impacts on firms' propensity to pay dividends. However, it seems that firms reduce dividend payout along the deregulation process and adjust …