TY - BOOK AU - Hess,Patrick J. ED - National Bureau of Economic Research. TI - Dividend Yields and Stock Returns: A Test for Tax Effects T2 - NBER working paper series PY - 1981/// CY - Cambridge, Mass. PB - National Bureau of Economic Research N1 - March 1981; Hardcopy version available to institutional subscribers N2 - This paper examines the empirical relation between stock returns and dividend yields. Several equilibrium pricing models incorporating differential taxation of dividends and capital gains are nested as systems of time series regressions. Estimates of these models and tests of parameter restrictions implied by the models are conducted within the context of Zellner's seemingly unrelated regression. It is concluded that the data fail to support these models as well as the hypothesis that dividends are neutral. The inability to distinguish between these competing hypotheses suggests the need for further research before definitive conclusions are reached regarding the tax impacts of dividends UR - https://www.nber.org/papers/w0649 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.3386/w0649 ER -