According to the just-published Risk Premia Over Time Report from Ibbotson Associates, dividends accounted for 4.3% of the 10.4% annualized return for large-cap stocks from 1926 through 2003.

FORBES: When Patience Pays

It's a huge number, on the order of 5% a year, as calculated from the past 75 years of data by Ibbotson Associates, a research company.

FORBES: The great stock illusion

To give two high-profile examples, Ibbotson and Associates and the academic duo of Eugene Fama and Kenneth French did similar studies that found that value stocks, as measured by low price-to-book ratios, outperform growth stocks over the long run.

FORBES: SDOG: A New Dog for an Old Trick