Together, these columns show several things. First, the shockcaused industries with higher long-term dependence on external finance to grow slower in countries with more leveraged financial sectors. Second, the shock hit industries with higher short-term dependence on external finance harder in countries with more leveraged financial sectors. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that banks with high leverage are more vulnerable to shocks. Third, industries with higher short-term dependence on
external finance are less impacted by the crisis in countries with a higher level of credit to the private sector. This suggests that for many firms banks are the only source of short-term finance. Fourth and finally, our measure of deepness of financial markets has no impact on the growth prospects of industrial sectors. We find no evidence that such markets may cushion the shock of a crisis. As an indication of the economic significance of our results, our results indicate that the financial crisis decreased annual production growth by 5.6 percentage points more for an industry with the average dependence on external finance in a country with LEV at the 75th percentile level, compared to such an industry in a country with LEV at the 25th percentile level.