TY  - JOUR
AU  - Beaulieu,J. Joseph
AU  - MacKie-Mason,Jeffrey K.
AU  - Miron,Jeffrey A.
TI  - Why Do Countries and Industries with Large Seasonal Cycles Also Have    Large Business Cycles?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 3635
PY  - 1991
Y2  - February 1991
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w3635
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w3635.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Joseph Beaulieu
Division of Research & Statistics
The Federal Reserve Board, Mail Stop 82
20th and Constitution
Washington, DC  20551
Tel: 617/253-8712
E-Mail: no email available

Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason
Department of Economics
462 Lorch Hall
Ann Arbor, MI  48109-1220
Tel: 47/228-55127 or 47/2285-5035 fax
E-Mail: jmm@umich.edu

Jeffrey A. Miron
Department of Economics
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 781/856-0086
Fax: 617/495-8570
E-Mail: miron@fas.harvard.edu
AB  - We show there is a strong, positive correlation across countries and industries between the standard deviation of the seasonal component and the standard deviation of the non-seasonal component of aggregate variables such as output, labor input, interest rates, and prices. After documenting this stylized fact, we discuss possible explanations and develop a model that generates our empirical finding. The main feature of the model is that firms endogenously choose their degree of technological flexibility as a function of the amounts of seasonal and non-seasonal variation in demand. Although this model is intended to be illustrative, we find evidence supporting one of its key empirical implications.
ER  -