The effect of the Brexit referendum result on subjective well-being

Georgios Kavetsos, Ichiro Kawachi, Ilias Kyriopoulos and Sotiris Vandoros

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: We study the effect of the Brexit referendum result on subjective well-being in the United Kingdom. Using a quasi-experimental design, we find that this outcome led to an overall decrease in subjective well-being in the UK compared to a control group. The effect is driven by individuals who hold an overall positive attitude towards the EU and shows little signs of adaptation. Subjective well-being of those with a very negative attitude towards the EU increases in the short-run but turns negative, possibly due to unmet expectations. Using three different measures of socio-economic connection between the UK and other European countries, we generally do not find evidence supporting the presence of spillover effects of the Brexit referendum result on subjective well-being of individuals in other EU countries.

Keywords: subjective well-being; happiness; Brexit; referendum; election (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 I30 I31 I38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-hap and nep-int
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/91709/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The effect of the Brexit referendum result on subjective well‐being (2021)
Working Paper: The effect of the Brexit referendum result on subjective well-being* (2021)
Working Paper: The effect of the Brexit referendum result on subjective well-being (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:91709

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