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    On the causes of Brexit

    Zoega, Gylfi and Arnorsson, A. (2018) On the causes of Brexit. European Journal of Political Economy 55 , pp. 301-323. ISSN 0176-2680.

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    Abstract

    We analyse the voting pattern in the June 23rdreferendum on the continued participation of the United Kingdom in the European Union and evaluate the reasons for the results. We find that output, education and the share of older people at the regional level can explain attitudes towards immigrants and the European Union. Thus, regions where GDP per capita is low, a high proportion of people has low education, a high proportion is over the age of 65 and there is strong net immigration are more likely to be apprehensive of the European Union, be suspicious of immigrants and not want them as neighbours and, most importantly, to vote for Brexit. The fear of immigration does not seem to be fully justified in terms of the literature on the labour market effects of immigrants in the UK. Using the British Election Study we find similar results. Thus negative attitudes towards immigration and EU enlargement are correlated with voting for Brexit using data on individuals.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Article
    Keyword(s) / Subject(s): Brexit referendum, values, European Union
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Business and Law > Birkbeck Business School
    Depositing User: Gylfi Zoega
    Date Deposited: 11 Apr 2018 13:34
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 17:41
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/21913

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