Why Do Boards Exist? Governance Design in the Absence of Corporate Law, 1896-1920

The data are hand-collected from Carl Kierulf’s annual Handbook of Norwegian Bonds and Stocks (Haandbog over Norske Obligationer og Aktier), the historical Norwegian trade register (Brønnøy-sundregistrene), and individual company records kept in regional archives. The Kierulf Handbook, first published in 1900, reports rudimentary information for publicly traded companies, including year-end dividend payments dating back 3 to 5 years. The first volume also contains company statutes. Additional company statutes and financial statements are collected from archives and the trade register. Firms were not required to disclose their financial statements, so accounting variables are not available in all years for many firms and are completely missing for several firms.