Economic effects
Retailers, sporting goods makers, and other businesses benefit from extra afternoon sunlight, as it induces customers to shop and to participate in outdoor afternoon sports.[54] In 1984, Fortune magazine estimated that a seven-week extension of DST would yield an additional $30 million for 7-Eleven stores, and the National Golf Foundation estimated the extension would increase golf industry revenues $200 million to $300 million.[55] A 1999 study estimated that DST increases the revenue of the European Union's leisure sector by about 3%.[7] Conversely, DST can adversely affect farmers and others whose hours are set by the sun.[4] For example, grain harvesting is best done after dew evaporates, so when field hands arrive and leave earlier in summer their labor is less valuable.[56] DST also hurts prime-time broadcast ratings,[5] drive-ins and other theaters.[57]
Changing clocks and DST rules has a direct economic cost, entailing extra work to support remote meetings, computer applications and the like. For example, a 2007 North American rule change cost an estimated $500 million to $1 billion.[58] Although it has been argued that clock shifts correlate with decreased economic efficiency, and that in 2000 the daylight-saving effect implied an estimated one-day loss of $31 billion on U.S. stock exchanges,[59] the estimated numbers depend on the methodology[60] and the results have been disputed.[61]
