Seasonality and consumer confidence

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis research empirically investigates whether consumer confidence is affected by seasonal daylight fluctuations. Cross‐country panel regressions are run with two different datasets. It is found that both solar elevation and sunlight duration positively affect consumer confidence. The presence of country and year‐by‐month fixed effects as well as controls for the business cycle help rule out alternative explanations. A one standard deviation increase in solar elevation or sunlight duration is associated with a 0.03–0.04 SD increase in consumer confidence.