This paper examines the relative importance of three factors that affect the financial policies of firms during the financial crisis: 1) a contraction in credit supply; 2) a loss of investment opportunities; and 3) an increase in risk. Before September 2008, the evidence is not consistent with a dominant role for a contraction in credit supply. Small firms do not experience a decrease in net debt issuance in the first year of the crisis. In contrast, their net equity issuance is extremely low throughout the crisis, whereas an impaired credit supply by itself would have encouraged firms to increase their equity issuance. After September 2008, the evidence shows a dominant role for the increase in risk, but more so for large firms than small ones. Though small and unrated firms have exceptionally low net debt issuance at the peak of the crisis, large firms do not. Instead of decreasing their cash holdings, as would be expected with a temporarily impaired credit supply, large and investment grade firms increase their cash holdings sharply(by 17.8% in the case of investment-grade firms) from September 2008 to the end of our sample period.The fact that firms with no debt also decrease their net equity issuance and increase their cash holdings contradicts a credit channel explanation for the observed change in capital flows and cash accumulation.