The influence of economic policy uncertainty on stock market liquidity? The mediating role of investor sentiment

Mahbouba Nasraoui, Aymen Ajina and Amani Kahloul

Journal of Risk Finance, 2024, vol. 25, issue 4, 664-683

Abstract: Purpose - The study examines the relationship between Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) and stock liquidity, and the mediating role of investor sentiment. Design/methodology/approach - This study draws on a sample of 4,620 firm-year observations covering nonfinancial firms in the United States from 2007 to 2020. We employ multiple regression analysis with panel data and path analysis with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to examine the impact of EPU on stock liquidity in detail. Findings - EPU significantly enhances stock liquidity. However, at elevated levels of EPU, this relationship reverses. The path analysis results indicate that EPU positively affects stock liquidity via the investor sentiment channel. This sentiment partially mediates the relationship between EPU and both trading volume and turnover rate, and fully mediates the relationship between EPU and both turnover price impact and illiquidity. Practical implications - Our findings underscore the importance of liquidity for investors, who may require higher returns for holding more illiquid stocks. Second, they can help the government understand the implications of changes in EPU, highlighting the need for clear communication and the implementation of appropriate capital market policies. Originality/value - While considerable research focuses on the relationship between EPU and stock market liquidity, the analysis of the channels through which EPU influences stock market liquidity remains largely unexplored. Our study highlights the importance of investor sentiment in explaining this relationship.

Keywords: Economic policy uncertainty; Stock liquidity; Investor sentiment; S&P500; Mediator effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:jrfpps:jrf-06-2023-0129

DOI: 10.1108/JRF-06-2023-0129

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Risk Finance is currently edited by Nawazish Mirza

More articles in Journal of Risk Finance from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().