The growth of the private equity industry has spurred concerns about its potential impact on the economy. This analysis looks across nations and industries to assess the impact of private equity on industry performance. We find that industries where private equity funds have invested in the past five years have grown more quickly in terms of productivity and employment, and these industries appear to be less exposed to aggregate shocks. Robustness tests suggest that theresults are not driven by reverse causality. These patterns are not driven solely by common law nations such as the United Kingdom and United States, but also hold in Continental Europe.