3.1 Data
This study examines relationship between ownership structure and dividend policy of firms listed on the
Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) over the period 2007–2011. The data for ownership structure is obtained from www.sse.com.cn, the official website of SSE. The data for dividends and firm characteristics is retrieved from
www.securities.com, the database provided by the Emerging Market Information Service (EMIS). The initial
sample consists of 4,045 firm-year observations. After deleting firms in banking and financial industry, outliers,
and missing data, the final sample consists of 3,500 observations.