The standard dividend discount model assumes an infinite stream of dividends, but many stocks disappear through merger at a premium at some point in their corporate life, with a current takeover probability of about 0.5% to 2% per year for publicly-traded firms in the U.S. Ignoring takeover...

A long-held view in the academy is that shareholders are "residual claimants" in the sense that shareholders are paid in full only after the corporation pays its creditors. The reality on the ground is far different. Corporations give assets away to their shareholders long before they have...