Is Capital Structure Irrelevant with ESG Investors?
研究了当投资者关注ESG问题时，资本结构是否仍与企业价值和投资无关，理论上提出ESG-MM条件，并给出该条件失效的初步证据。
Abstract This paper examines whether capital structure is irrelevant for enterprise value and investment when investors care about environmental, social, and governance issues, which we refer to as “ESG-Modigliani-Miller” (ESG-MM). Theoretically, we show that ESG-MM holds with linear pricing and additive ESG. ESG-MM means that issuing low-yielding green bonds does not lower the overall cost of capital because it makes the issuer’s other securities browner. Hence, a firm’s incentive to make a green investment does not depend on its financing choice. We provide suggestive evidence of failure of ESG-MM, implying that firms and governments can exploit inconsistent ESG attribution or segmented markets.