Production network structure, service share, and aggregate volatility

This paper shows that GDP growth volatility declines with production network diversification. To account for this evidence, I build a multisector model with CES technologies and a cost of complexity in the bundle of intermediates. Production network diversification decreases volatility when intermediate inputs and labor are substitute inputs. U.S. sectoral data suggest that labor and intermediates are substitutes in service sectors. Therefore, a calibrated model that then also matches each country's production network can quantitatively generate the empirical patterns. The model also explains why service-oriented countries are less volatile: service sectors have a more diversified set of suppliers