Politics and liquidity

The equity market is more liquid under Democratic than Republican presidencies. This is apparent at the market level but is stronger in small, value stocks and in industries that are more sensitive to Democratic presidents. The effect is robust to different liquidity measures and time periods and is not solely driven by variation in the business cycle or macroeconomic variables. A number of factors that influence liquidity, including information asymmetry, volatility, and economic policy uncertainty, are all lower during Democratic presidencies. We also show that liquidity increases in the months following a Democratic president replacing a Republican president.