This paper investigates whether national social progress influences dividend payout policy of companies around the world. Using a large database of 12,312 companies from 70 countries, for 7 years (2008-2014), I provide strong evidence that social progress is significant in relation to important corporate decisions on paying dividends. Dividend payout policy is explained by the social progress of the country in which the company is active. Access to higher education, satisfaction of basic human needs, overall wellbeing and opportunities positively influence the dividend payout ratio and the propensity to pay dividends. Moreover, the Social Progress Index may be more significant than GDP per capita in relation to dividend policy. Hence, the new measure of quantifying the population's standard of living, from the social perspective and not from the economic one, is more relevant in the decision-making process on dividend payout.

中文翻译：

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社会进步会解释股息分配决定吗？

本文研究了国家社会进步是否会影响全球公司的股利分配政策。通过使用来自70个国家/地区的12312家公司的大型数据库，历时7年（2008-2014年），我提供了有力的证据表明，与重要的公司分红决定相比，社会进步是重要的。股息支付政策由公司所在国家的社会进步来解释。受高等教育的机会，对基本人类需求的满足，总体福祉和机会会积极影响股利支付比率和股利支付倾向。此外，就红利政策而言，社会进步指数可能比人均GDP更重要。因此，量化人口生活水平的新措施