Because corporate governance mechanisms can also influence firm performance and may affect family control, we include proxies for various governance devices.We use annual corporate proxy statements to collect data on the size and composition of the board of directors. Composition is established using a director classification scheme similar to the categorization in Brickley, Coles, andTerry(1994). We specifically control for outside directors in our analysis and identify these as board members whose only affiliation with the firm is their directorship.Directors currently employed (retired) by (from) the firm, their immediate family members, and individuals with existing or potential business ties to the firm are identified as insiders or affiliated directors. We collect board information for every other year of our sample period: 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1999.