Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
This study examines common stock prices around ex-dividend dates. Such price data usually contain a mixture of observations--some with and some without arbitrageurs and/or dividend capturers active. Our theory predicts that such mixing will result in a nonlinear relation between percentage price drop and dividend yield--not the commonly assumed linear relation. This prediction and another important prediction of theory are supported empirically. In a variety of tests, marginal price drop is not significantly different from the dividend amount. Thus, over the last several decades, one-for-one marginal price drop has been an excellent (average) rule of thumb. Article published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Financial Studies in its journal, The Review of Financial Studies.