I exploit the variation in demographic change across the United States to estimate the relationship between the age distribution in the population and the magnitude of cyclical output volatility. According to panel regression estimates the relative supply of young workers, or youth share, has a...

The cyclical volatility of U.S. gross domestic product suddenly declined during the early 1980's and remained low for over 20 years. I develop a labor search model with worker heterogeneity and match-specific costs to show how an increase in the supply of high-skill workers can contribute to a...