Joseph Pearlman's picture
Affiliation: 
City University London
Credentials: 
Professor of Economics

Voting history

Are academic economists ‘in touch’ with voters and politicians?

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Question 6: Economists did not explain the reasons for this consensus in sufficiently clear language.

Do you agree this was an important reason for a majority of UK voters going against the near unanimous advice of the economics profession?

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Answer:
Disagree
Confidence level:
Confident
Comment:
Lack of consensus in the predicted effects was the issue. Had there been similar predictions of the effects, then maybe this question would have been relevant.

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Question 5: Voters think that the preferences of economists do not align with their own preferences. (This includes the possibility that they thought that the predicted negative economic consequences would not affect them personally).

Do you agree this was an important reason for a majority of UK voters going against the near unanimous advice of the economics profession?

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Answer:
Disagree
Confidence level:
Confident

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Question 4: Voters did not believe the economic arguments put forward (for example, because they thought the arguments put forward by macroeconomists with dissenting views made more sense or because voters have little faith in economists in general).

Do you agree that this was an important reason for a majority of UK voters going against the near unanimous advice of the economics profession?

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Answer:
Strongly agree
Confidence level:
Extremely confident
Comment:
The Treasury forecast of the costs of Brexit was performed at a very low standard, and could have been convincingly revised down to the more plausible figure suggested by the IFS. The big difference in forecasts could not have instilled confidence in the population at large.

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Question 3: Voters chose to leave the EU for non-economic reasons.

Do you agree that this was an important reason for a majority of UK voters going against the near unanimous advice of the economics profession?

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Answer:
Disagree
Confidence level:
Confident

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Question 2: What do you think is the most likely reason that a majority of UK voters went against the near unanimous advice of the economics profession?

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Answer:
D. Message not clear
Confidence level:
Very confident
Comment:
Many of the poorest parts of the country voted for Brexit because they were concerned about the negative impact on wages of immigration. In fact this is borne out by the research of Dustmann et al (2013). MPs opposing Brexit should have acknowledged this, and made a pledge to address this as a matter of urgency.

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