Welcome to Daylight Savings Time; Or Not!
by Jeffrey Miron on March 14th, 2010
3 Comments
The main argument for DST is that it saves energy, yet evidence for this claim is scant or contradictory. In addition, DST generates “adjustment costs” such as airlines needing to modify their schedules twice a year.
An alternative argument for DST would be that most people likes having evening daylight in the summer, yet private arrangements cannot coordinate on this “equilibrium.” Perhaps. But even this benefit comes at a cost (morning dog-walks in the dark), and who knows whether the benefit of the different equilibirum outweigh DST’s costs.
Personally, I hate the lost hour of sleep in spring much more than I enjoy the gained hour in the fall!
Categories: My Blog
Badger
DST, a wasteful pain on the neck.
Mario Rizzo
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/general_lifestyle/march_2010/47_don_t_think_daylight_saving_time_worth_the_hassle
Apparently, a lot of people don’t like it.
msgnet
What about the idea that daylight savings time is like economic stimulus? The argument I’ve heard is that if there is more daylight after work then people are more likely to go shopping or go the mall instead of just going home. Now I don’t like the idea of government trying to manipulate behavior, and I’m not sure that the science backs it up to begin with, but this is the argument that I’ve heard from some mainstream media outlets.