RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Practical Applications of The Stock as a Portfolio of Durations: Solving Black’s Dividend Puzzle Using Black’s Criteria JF Practical Applications FD Institutional Investor Journals SP 1 OP 3 DO 10.3905/pa.2016.3.3.139 VO 3 IS 3 A1 Oscar Varela A1 Wendy Connett YR 2016 UL https://pm-research.com/content/3/3/1.6.abstract AB The Stock as a Portfolio of Durations: Solving Black’s Dividend Puzzle Using Black’s Criteria Oscar Varela Should a firm should pay dividends and does paying them—or not—have any relevance to its stock value? In an interview with Institutional Investor Journals , Oscar Varela explains how dividend policy impacts a stock’s riskiness when its duration is taken into consideration.His research was inspired by conflicting statements by Fischer Black , first in a 1976 article and later in a 1995 book. Varela explains, “It struck me that the same Black who claimed dividends to be puzzling had nevertheless, in his book on general equilibrium, downgraded the idea of puzzles.”