Replication Data for: Inalienable Human Capital and Inevitable Corporate Payouts

We highlight that the inalienable nature of human capital can crucially determine the division of economic gains between shareholders and other counterparts in view of corporate payouts. Exploiting the staggered rejections of the inevitable disclosure doctrine (IDD) across 15 US states as exogenous shocks that potentially increase the mobility and bargaining power of key talents, we find that treatment firms increase payouts relative to control firms following those events. The baseline effects are more pronounced among firms that are more reliant on key human capital, have better corporate governance and stronger financial conditions, and are faced with greater product market competition. These findings suggest that higher payouts enable shareholders to deter the capture of economic rents by key talents who threaten to leave. That is, due to shareholders’ counteraction, the inalienable nature of key human capital, a subgroup of labor, may unintendedly result in an unfavorable division of economic gains for labor as a whole.

本研究着重指出，人力资本的不可剥夺性会在企业派现支出的语境下，决定性地影响股东与其他利益相关方之间的经济收益分配。本研究利用美国15个州分批否决不可避免披露原则（Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine, IDD）这一外生冲击——该冲击可潜在提升核心人才的流动性与议价能力——发现相较于对照组企业，处理组企业在该类事件发生后会增加派现支出。基准效应在以下类型企业中更为显著：更依赖核心人力资本、公司治理水平更优、财务状况更强，以及面临更激烈产品市场竞争的企业。上述研究结果表明，更高的派现支出可使股东遏制核心人才以离职相威胁来攫取经济租金的行为。换言之，由于股东的反向应对，作为劳动力子群体的核心人力资本的不可剥夺性，可能意外地导致整体劳动力陷入不利的经济收益分配格局。