A Freak Connection Between the Sunshine and the Economy?

When Chicago made it eerily close to the top of Forbes’ most miserable cities list earlier this year, one of the main reasons happened to be the lousy weather we encounter for what seems like three fourths of the year. When the weather hits even a slight breeze over 50 degrees, I see people busting out their mini skirts and flip flops, only to trade them out for their Uggs and winter coats the next day.

Ok, Forbes, our weather is miserable. We know, we live here. However, a New York Times article recently came out discussing the possible connection between sunshine and a slight improvement in the economy.

This may be a far stretch, and certainly will not have any drastic difference in the situation. However, they point out that when it is nice out, people feel much less gloomy and get out of their apartments/houses to get into the rare sunshine. Therefore, people are not focusing so much on their tight budgets and spend some money for lunch or new attire for the warm weather.

But apparently, this theory stretches beyond just buying a new dress because it’s nice outside. The stock market benefits to the spring and summer seasons as well. Stock prices rise higher then, as opposed to winter when trading decreases. This could be because of the recession this year, but the numbers are consistent.

According to this same article, “David Hirshleifer, a professor at the University at California, Irvine found that strong sunshine at the sites of 26 leading stock exchanges around the world (including the New York Stock Exchange) was linked to higher stock returns. Annual returns for the market were, over the course of the 16-year-period he studied, 25 percent on sunny days, compared with 9 percent on cloudy days.” So if the sun does in fact come out tomorrow, and stays out, the economy could see a slight boost.

Regardless of the economy, I would really love if the sun graced us with it’s presence and the temperatures stayed up for more than just 12 hours at a time. So this miserable city has some hope, and perhaps so does the economy coming into the warm season.