Cameron's Information Disaster in the Referendum of 2016: An Exit from Brexit?

Paul Welfens

No disbei219, EIIW Discussion paper from Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library

Abstract: The UK's BREXIT-referendum on June 23rd, 2016, resulted in 51.9% of voters opting for the UK to leave the EU. This result, however, was a direct consequence of the situation that in the official 16-page information leaflet, which was delivered to all households prior to the vote, the Cameron government did not include any information on the economic effects of BREXIT, although a study by HM Treasury had given rise to internal data on these effects by early April: -10% in long-term real income. On the basis of a popularity function, one can calculate that in the case of this information being widely known to the public, the result could have rather been 52% in favour of Remain. From this perspective, the referendum itself loses legitimacy and the call for a second referendum becomes irrefutable.

Keywords: European Union; United Kingdom; European integration; Free trade area (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F13 F15 J51 O11 O52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 Pages
Date: 2016-10
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Cameron’s information disaster in the referendum of 2016: an exit from Brexit? (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bwu:eiiwdp:disbei219

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