TY - JOUR AU - Mulligan,Casey B. TI - Does Labor Supply Matter During a Recession? Evidence from the Seasonal Cycle JF - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series VL - No. 16357 PY - 2010 Y2 - September 2010 UR - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16357 L1 - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16357.pdf N1 - Author contact info: Casey B. Mulligan University of Chicago Department of Economics 1126 East 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637 Tel: 773/702-9017 Fax: 773/702-8490 E-Mail: c-mulligan@uchicago.edu AB - Every year has large demand and supply shifts associated with the seasons, regardless of the phase of the business cycle. Based on measures dating back to the 1940s, the seasonal shifts reject the hypotheses that demand shifts affect employment outcomes significantly more in recession years than in non-recession years, and that supply shifts matter significantly less (if at all) in the recession years. My results are consistent with the hypothesis that recessions are characterized by labor market distortions that are neither alleviated by additional labor demand nor exacerbated by additional labor supply. ER -