Gas, Guns, and Governments: Financial Costs of Anti-ESG Policies
Gas, Guns, and Governments: Financial Costs of Anti-ESG Policies ArXiv ID: ssrn-4123366 “View on arXiv” Authors: Unknown Abstract We study how restricting intermediary contracting over ESG policies distorts financial market outcomes. In 2021 Texas prohibited municipalities from hiring bank Keywords: ESG policies, intermediary contracting, financial market distortion, regulatory impact, municipal finance, Credit Complexity vs Empirical Score Math Complexity: 2.5/10 Empirical Rigor: 8.5/10 Quadrant: Street Traders Why: The paper’s primary analysis relies on standard event-study regressions and difference-in-differences methodology applied to municipal bond data, requiring significant data processing and implementation, but the mathematical depth is limited to basic econometric models. flowchart TD A["Research Question<br>Impact of ESG restrictions<br>on municipal financing"] --> B["Methodology<br>Event Study + Difference-in-Differences"] B --> C["Data Sources"] C --> D["Municipal Bond Data"] C --> E["Bank Contracting Data"] C --> F["Texas Policy 2021"] D & E & F --> G["Computational Process<br>Estimate spread changes<br>& loan pricing impacts"] G --> H["Key Findings"] H --> I["+8-10 bps spread increase<br>in Texas municipal bonds"] H --> J["Higher borrowing costs<br>for municipalities"] H --> K["Market distortion<br>from ESG restrictions"]