Getting part-time staff is "not a really good functional way for us to operate our business, " he says, because of how employees' shifts, which rotate 24 hours a day, are scheduled for optimal productivity.

WSJ: Small Business Looks for Ways to Cope With Health Law

Rather than explaining the cycle in terms of market failure, as Keynes did, real business-cycle theory views a recession as the optimal response by households and firms to a shift in productivity.

ECONOMIST: The causes of booms and busts