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Immobility and the Brexit vote

Author

Listed:
  • Neil Lee
  • Katy Morris
  • Thomas Kemeny

Abstract

Popular explanations of the Brexit vote have centred on the division between cosmopolitan internationalists who voted Remain and geographically rooted individuals who voted Leave. In this article, we conduct the first empirical test of whether residential immobility—the concept underpinning this distinction—was an important variable in the Brexit vote. We find that locally rooted individuals—defined as those living in their county of birth—were 7% more likely to support Leave. However, the impact of immobility was filtered by local circumstances: immobility only mattered for respondents in areas experiencing relative economic decline or increases in migrant populations.

Suggested Citation

  • Neil Lee & Katy Morris & Thomas Kemeny, 2018. "Immobility and the Brexit vote," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 11(1), pages 143-163.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:cjrecs:v:11:y:2018:i:1:p:143-163.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cjres/rsx027
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Brexit; globalisation; mobility; populism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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