Volumes of debt underwriting — he process by which investment bankers raise investment capital from investors — have fallen by more than $1.3 trillion in the US since the credit crisis kicked off last July.

According to an Oppenheimer research note picked up by Dow Jones MarketWatch: “As more than 80% of corporate funding came from the capital markets during 2007, we can’t help but believe that such a massive extraction of liquidity from the market will have a profound impact on the U.S. economy.