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Does the transition into daylight saving time affect students’ performance?

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  • Herber, Stefanie P.
  • Quis, Johanna Sophie
  • Heineck, Guido

Abstract

We use international assessment data on more than 22,000 students from six European countries to investigate whether the transition into daylight saving time affects elementary students’ performance in low-stakes tests in the week after the time change. Exploiting the time shift as a natural experiment, we find that the effect of changing the clock is very small in magnitude and not statistically significant in all three testing areas (math, science, and reading). Therefore, our results challenge the prevailing public opinion that daylight saving time should be abandoned because of its detrimental effects on schoolchildren’s performance.

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  • Herber, Stefanie P. & Quis, Johanna Sophie & Heineck, Guido, 2017. "Does the transition into daylight saving time affect students’ performance?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 130-139.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:61:y:2017:i:c:p:130-139
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2017.07.002
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Daylight saving time; School achievement tests; Cognitive performance; Natural experiment; Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS); Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS);
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D04 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Policy: Formulation; Implementation; Evaluation
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I29 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Other

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