Figure 4. Average cash ratios sorted by quintiles of the GIM index from 1990 to 2006. The figure summarizes the average cash-to-assets ratio for quintiles of firms sorted by their GIM index. We split the firms for which we have the GIM index into quintiles in each year that IRCC publishes its information on takeover protections, using values of the GIM index as break points. We keep the assignment of firms the same in years in which no information is published by IRCC. The sample includes all Compustat firm-year observations from 1990 to 2006 with positive values for the book value of total assets and sales revenue for firms incorporated in the United States and for which we have IRRC data. Financial firms (SIC code 6000-6999) and utilities (SIC codes 4900-4999) are excluded from the sample, yielding a panel of 17,556 observations for 2,362 unique firms. The cash ratio is measured as the ratio of cash and marketable securities to the book value of total assets