How Daylight Saving Time clock changes upend the economy

foxbusiness.com:

Panel on daylight saving time.

On Sunday, Nov. 5, most of the U.S. will dial back their clocks an hour in order to «fall back» to standard time as part of the nation's semi-annual ritual of changing the time.

While much of the analysis surrounding America's twice-a-year clock changes covers the health effects of Daylight Saving Time (DST) – which includes a higher risk of cardiac issues amid disrupted sleep schedules – the economic toll has not received as much focus. 

However, research indicates that changing the clock twice a year has adverse impacts on the money side of things that are very real, and the evidence is growing.

A recent study found that investment professionals are slower to act on earnings news the week after the spring time change. (Courtney Crow/New York Stock Exchange via AP / Associated Press)

A study published last year by researchers from several business schools found that investors and capital market participants are slower to respond to accounting reports in the week after we «spring forward» – which falls smack in the middle of earnings season.

«These results are strongest among firms with investors who are more likely to be trading on earnings news and among firms with a less sophisticated investor base,» the authors wrote. «Further analysis reveals that our main results are driven by muted reactions to positive earnings surprises, consistent with cognitive impairment and investor pessimism jointly underlying the diminished market response to earnings news.»

FOUR-DAY WORKWEEK GAINING STEAM, RESTAURANT, MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES SAY IT DOESN'T WORK

Another set of business school researchers found that on the Monday following DST, there is a rise in workplace injuries. Not only that, the