Economic Benefits Of Daylight Saving Time - Essay Example

Economic Benefits Of Daylight Saving Time Daylight Saving Time (DST) is the key to solving the global economic crisis. Not only should DST be kept; it must be extended the whole year round! Doing this would eliminate the inconvenience of having to adjust the clock twice a year. It would also be good for the economy. DST became a law in order to “save” the daylight during the summer months when the sun rose earlier and set later compared to the rest of the year. By moving the clock forward by an hour in the springtime, just before summertime kicks in, and moving it back by an hour in the fall, DST had the objective of not wasting the hour or so of daylight in the morning. It also had the added benefit of an extra hour or so of daylight in the evening. Not only do people get to work when the sun is up, but DST also has the added benefit of an extra hour or so of daylight after work hours for people to get home safely and to engage in social and recreational activities. Regardless of what one decides to do, whether go home and spend time with the family or go out and spend time with friends, DST can also save energy. The combination of these advantages of DST – working when there is sunlight, finishing work and safely getting home (or going out with friends) when there is still light, spending time with people one cares about and saving energy while doing so – will help the world get out of its economic crisis if DST is extended the whole year round. The reasons are easy to understand. First, finishing work early allows everyone to do many things while there is still light. It is these “many things” that one cannot do in the dark that has the power to help solve the economic crisis. One can decide to do things on one’s own that would save money and increase savings, like clean the car, mow the lawn, or paint the roof. One could also decide to do things to spend money and keep the economy running, like go bowling, visit friends, or have a beer. As mentioned in several portions of his book Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time, David Prerau enumerated many proofs of the beneficial economic effects that DST has had on many sectors of the economy, such as candy manufacturers, amusement parks, restaurants and shops, movie houses and theaters, and the sporting goods industry. While there are objections that the cost of air-conditioning warm rooms and spending on outdoor activities may increase, the over-all benefits to the economy were proven by DST’s role in bringing America out of Depression (Prerau 124, 127). Second, whatever one decides to do, there would be less fear doing so because one would be coming home when there is still light. In fact, actual accident rates go down when DST is in effect as Prerau and Downing claim. The reason is that people can drive more safely, others prefer to do a personal workout by walking in the warm weather and cut down on the use of the car, and still others use public transport instead. Aside from transport safety, DST also helps public safety. There are fewer opportunities for criminals to practice their trade, which they do mostly in the dark when the chances of escape are greater. There are also actual evidences of crime rates going down during DST periods. An obvious objection is that when people decide to drive around more, the increased traffic can result in higher accident rates, but the evidence is in favor of improved safety as traffic accidents are higher when it is dark. Third, with the safer environment, people can do more socializing. In addition to the economic effects already mentioned above, there are also social benefits from DST. These social benefits include the improvement of relations among family members or co-workers, which have direct economic benefits like improved productivity, more opportunities to motivate and encourage, and other benefits from improved social interaction such as minimizing social frictions, resolving relationship problems, and discovering new business opportunities. Of course, socializing may lead to more occasions of conflict, but this is a problem of poor people attitudes, not DST. Another related problem of poor people’s attitudes to change is their ranting on the inconvenience of changing their clocks twice a year to adjust for DST. Nevertheless, just like familiarity to different time zones, adjusting to DST can be learned. Lastly, the conservation of energy has been one of the arguments presented in favor of DST, and while the evidence is mixed depending on temperatures, range of activities and the diverse opportunities for social activities, the governments of most states and private businesses are unanimous in their findings that DST’s benefits outweigh its costs to the whole economy. Otherwise, if the evidence were to the contrary and that DST is bad for the economy, then the government and private business would have abolished it a long time ago, as had been done in many countries (Downing 105-107). The world during the Great Depression was an economic mess, and it took a bloody World War to get the world economy back on its feet. Going to war is not an attractive option, so the only workable solution this author sees is to get people to work harder and to balance this greater effort by working smarter. As Downing convincingly showed, DST has been beneficial to the economy, and while many object that much of the world was on DST when the current crisis hit, DST was not the main cause. Rather, people working poorly caused the crisis. While DST can give people the opportunity to work poorly, it also gives them the opportunity to work well. Compelled by the need to recover from this crisis, the people need all the help they can get, not only to work well but also safely. Extending it the whole year round, or extending the period to “save” as much of the daylight as possible, would be a good solution, creating more opportunities for each one to do his or her share in getting the world economy back on its feet by working harder, smarter, happier and more safely. Works Cited Downing, Michael. Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time. New York: Counterpoint, 2006. Prerau, David. Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time. New York: Basic Books, 2005. Read More