“Why Aren’t We All on the Same Time Zone?” | Patrick J. Kiger, howstuffworks

It might take some getting used to, but [Steve] Hanke, [a professor of applied economics], thinks that in a generation, children who grew up with UTC would no longer associate, say 7 a.m. with breakfast time or 9 a.m. with starting work. And the switch not unheard of.

"China currently has this 'problem' in that it has one time zone for a huge swath of East-West real estate," Henry adds. "But it is totally cured by having local decisions as to opening/closing times for businesses and so on. That would obviously be essential for a world-wide system."

Maybe an expertise in economics doesn’t mean one is an expert in biology/sociology/etc. And maybe the policy of an authoritarian regime is not good evidence that the people like it.