Paying for Euroscepticism

Andres Rodriguez-Pose, Lewis Dijkstra and Chiara Dorat

No 2526, Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) from Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography

Abstract: Over the past two decades, support for Eurosceptic parties has climbed from fringe to nearly one-third of voters. Promising renewed prosperity through less European integration, these partiesimplyEuroscepticismisa‘freelunch.’Drawingonanoriginalpanelof1,166European NUTS-3 regions (2004-2023) and using fixed-, random-eNects, and diNerence-in-diNerences designs, we test how rising Euroscepticism connects with regional economic and demographic outcomes. We track GDP per capita, productivity, employment, and population growth. We find that a region 10 points more Eurosceptic than another could have ended up with GDP per capita roughly 5% lower than the less Eurosceptic region, as the negative economic influence of Euroscepticism compounds across cycles and intensified after the financial and austerity crises. The same applies for productivity and employment. Demographic impacts are smaller but point in the same direction. Even without governing, Eurosceptic support appears to deter investment and raise uncertainty, deepening the very stagnation that fuels discontent. There is no free lunch: political backlash against European integration carries a measurable costs for the regions that embrace it.

Keywords: Euroscepticism; Economic development; Population growth; European integration; Political discontent; Regions; EU (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 F15 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-08, Revised 2025-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur and nep-pol
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