Buybacks Don’t Cut Investment

A recent study comparing repurchasing firms to public and private non‑repurchasers—while holding investment opportunities constant—finds no evidence that buybacks reduce capital expenditures, R&D, or hiring. Financial analysts also do not revise capex forecasts downward after buybacks. — This undercuts a popular rationale for restricting repurchases and refocuses policy on evidence rather than narratives about 'financialization' starving the real economy.