WRDS Introduction

What is WRDS?
Wharton Research Database Services is an internet-based business data service from the Wharton School. WRDS data consists of historical financial information for banks, government bonds, stock exchanges, and major companies. It is intended solely for research and instructional purposes. For more information, see http://wrds.wharton.upenn.edu/demo/index.shtml.

Accessing WRDS Without a Password
WRDS may be accessed via the Web at http://wrds.wharton.upenn.edu/connect from PCs on campus (including student labs) without a login password.

Accessing WRDS With an Account and Password
Users with a WRDS account can login at http://wrds.wharton.upenn.edu/wrdsauth/members.cgi from any PC on the internet. Faculty, PhD, and Research accounts come with personal and shared work space on the WRDS server, a personal record of queries, and secure access to the WRDS Unix server and data. In addition, faculty may apply for class accounts which allow their students to use WRDS from off campus.

New Accounts
New York University faculty, administrators, staff, and PhD students are allowed to have a WRDS account. In addition, students may request a Research Assistant account for a limited time if they are doing research with a faculty member. Faculty may request accounts for classes.

Requesting an account
The following steps will guide you in obtaining your WRDS account.

1. Visit http://wrds.wharton.upenn.edu/wrdsauth/account_req.shtml with your Web browser (Internet Explorer is recommended).
2. Complete the Account Request form.
3. Read the WRDS Terms of Use Statement.
4. The NYU Representative for WRDS will receive a message from WRDS regarding your account application.
5. The NYU Representative will check your NYU affiliation.
6. Once your account request is approved, WRDS will send you an e-mail with instructions for setting your password.

WRDS Newsletters

2007:  March November 2006:  February October 2005:  April  September 2004:  March  June  September  December 2003:  March  May  July  November 2002:  December

If you have suggestions, comments, questions or problems using this service, please contact:
Research Databases at Stern, 212-998-0163, research@stern.nyu.edu.

If you have problems, questions, or suggestions concerning WRDS database access or data query, or programming in SAS, Fortran, or C, you can contact WRDS research and technical support at wrds-support@wharton.upenn.edu