Table 2 reports descriptive statistics of the continuous variables used in the analyses, and in
the table notes we provide further details on the variable measurement. The median firm is
reasonably liquid with a bid-ask spread equal to one percent of share price. At the same time,
there is substantial variation in liquidity across firms as indicated by the standard deviation. As
the liquidity variables are negatively skewed, we use log-transformed measures in the regression
analyses. All four individual liquidity measures are highly correlated with Pearson’s correlation
coefficients ranging from 0.47 to 0.80. They are also well represented by the aggregate liquidity
factor with correlations of 0.73 or better. For brevity, in the analyses that follow we tabulate and
discuss only the results for Bid-Ask Spreads, which conceptually are the most appealing measure,
and the Liquidity Factor, which aggregates the individual proxies. The table further shows that
liquidity increases with firm size and share turnover, and decreases with more volatile returns