Wharton Research Data Services has partnered with RiskMetrics (formerly IRRC) to provide academic researchers with a comprehensive database on corporate takeover defense strategies and large array of corporate governance items. RiskMetrics is the world's leading source of impartial, independent research on corporate governance, proxy voting and corporate responsibility issues. To read more about RiskMetrics and their mission, see the RiskMetrics web site .

The RiskMetrics Governance Database covers more than 4,000 companies and was the foundation of a joint Harvard-Wharton research project that revealed that companies deemed to have strong shareholder rights and few anti-takeover devices enjoyed higher returns in the 1990s than companies with weak shareholder rights which instituted strong anti-takeover devices. (See Gompers, Metrick, and Ishii, "Corporate Governance and Equity Prices", The Quarterly Journal of Economics 118(1), February 2003.)

WRDS subscribers should send email to wrds-support@wharton.upenn.edu to find out how their institution can subscribe to use this database.

Full subscribers can use both our web-based and UNIX systems to identify companies that have poison pills, anti-greenmail, classified boards, golden parachutes, and other devices that are designed to prevent hostile takeovers and weaken shareholder rights.

This dataset is one of two available from RiskMetrics. The Directors dataset provides details on the structure and practices of the boards of directors at a large number of U.S. companies

Full subscribers: Enter the WRDS system using the logo below and use your ID and password to login. After logging in, you will find RiskMetrics as a listed item on the WRDS home or start up page if your institution subscribes to the RiskMetrics data. If you do not see RiskMetrics as an item, you can verify your institutions subscriptions by clicking on MyWRDS-MyPermissions. Send email to wrds-support@wharton.upenn.edu if you have any questions about subscription terms.