Stocks paying dividends is not the same thing as stocks increasing in value. Stocks increasing in value means that the expected income from holding the shock we

Stocks paying dividends is not the same thing as stocks increasing in value. Stocks increasing in value means that the expected income from holding the shock went up. Stock buybacks accomplish that by decreasing the number of shares (with the assumption that the amount paid in dividends stays the same, so the divididends/share goes up.) The comments above are right that investing makes much less sense in a world without economic growth. Even if companies continue to pay dividends, the US stock market has had 7% real annual growth over the past hundred years and that drives a huge amount of investment.