Research by the University of East Anglia has found that despite increasing globalisation, international time differences still have a negative and economically significant impact on trade between countries. For each hour of time difference between countries, international goods trade is decreased by between 2-7%.
But the study also found that the impact of new communication technologies has reduced the negative impact of time zone differences. The “time zone effect” is also less relevant for businesses where travel and communication are less important - for example where people working on a project are based in different countries but share a common language or ethnic background.
This research could influence the ongoing debate about time differences and changes to daylight saving time.
Read more at University of East Anglia