> "All of these arguments apply to dividends as well as share buybacks."

no, adverse incentives (like here, where buybacks preferentially benefit executives) create moral hazards, which economic research has shown time and again. there's even a specific name for this particular issue: the principal-agent problem[0].

in the idealized case, you don't return money to investors if you have positive npv projects on the table (meaning more capital and less risk directed toward common employees as a side effect), but you will if you can enrich yourself regardless of those projects. dividends don't create these perverse incentives but buybacks in the current environment do.

[0]: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal%E2%80%93agent_problem