Every fifth listed company doles out more than the entire profit

Adri de Ridder has studied the payouts from listed companies to shareholders - in the form of dividends and then in the year 2000 repurchase of shares - from 1970 to 2018. They have increased 30 times in terms of fixed monetary value.

Although there are more companies today, and the repurchase was not allowed before 2000, so it is a very large increase.

But even more noteworthy is that the proportion of companies that share out more - through dividends or the repurchase of the shares - now approaching 20 percent.

the year gives back more money than they earn to the owners do not need to be a problem. The company can simply sit on more money than what it actually needs for its operation.

But if the trend increases, which the Ridders research shows, it means that eventually there is less money in businesses, investments in new products, production processes, research and development.

And it think de Ridder is a cause for concern. And he believes that this is more short-term owners.

Since 1970, we have received more institutional owners such as hedge funds. It is short-term and do not retain the shares as long as the previous owners, " he says.

fund Managers are paid according to their ability to deliver the returns to the fund. And the return comes from the companies ' payout.

that the boards are reluctant to reduce payments when, perhaps, it still would make sense to invest for the future.

"You definitely do not want to decrease the how this would be received is too large," says de Ridder.

another change is that we have got more of foreign ownership also. When they receive payouts via dividends and repurchase of shares, lost money abroad.

The long period with low interest rates play their part too. The return from bonds and other interest-bearing securities is low. For mutual funds and insurance companies must, therefore, shareholding provide the returns they need.

it is ultimately up to the ägarfråga. They are the owners who ultimately decide whether dividends and share repurchases at the annual general meetings. But he thinks that the development is of concern.

– the Question is how long companies can be emptied of money, " he says.

" We still have several heavy industrial companies in Sweden. It to work long-term. This short is not good for the confederation of Swedish enterprise or Sweden, " he adds.

How do you solve this problem?

" I think you need to look at taxation. If you own a share in 15 seconds or in 15 years, it provides the same tax, " says de Ridder.

"Then you are better off with a tax system that favors long-term ownership," he adds, and believes that the tax should be reduced in pace with the time one owns a share.

So it is in the united states, where the buy and sell in a year pay a higher tax. Even in Sweden, there was earlier a similar system.