The Impact of the Covid-19 Stimulus Checks on Retail Investor Investment Behavior
Open Access
Author:
Hoff, Andrew
Area of Honors:
Finance
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Samuel Burton Bonsall, IV, Thesis Supervisor Brian Spangler Davis, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Covid-19 Retail Investors Liquidity Stimulus
Abstract:
This paper sets out to explore the investment behavior of retail investors following the exogenous shocks to their liquidity associated with the Covid-19 stimulus checks. To investigate their behavior, this study has pulled daily aggregate retail investor trading data from January 1st to May 1st of the years 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 to establish if there was a statistically significant change in their behavior shortly following the disbursal of the stimulus checks. To categorize their investment behavior, this paper will analyze the sum total of buy and sell volume across a random selection of growth and value stocks. This study will treat each stimulus check as its own case study. The timing, disbursal period, and broader market and global factors are different for each check. This opens up room to additionally discuss the potential implications of factors not controlled by the study as they might affect investor behavior.
