IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/anname/v697y2021i1p81-98.html

The Anxiety of Political Uncertainty: Insights from the Brexit Vote

Author

Listed:
  • Isabel Ruiz
  • Carlos Vargas-Silva

Abstract

Anxiety is driven by cognitive uncertainty, and large political events can change levels of uncertainty in a nation’s population, including among individuals in migrant groups. This article explores the association between the Brexit vote and the relative anxiety levels of various sectors of the UK population: the UK born, EU migrants, and non-EU migrants. Self-reported high anxiety levels among these population groups six months before and after the referendum suggest differences in social and economic uncertainty. After the Brexit vote, EU migrants reported high levels of anxiety at a rate that was 1.8 percentage points lower than the UK born; this suggests economic rather than social anxiety, given that the UK born were losing access to EU opportunities. The reduction in anxiety for EU migrants was marked in regions with greater support to remain in the EU, suggesting its importance in reducing their social uncertainty and therefore anxiety.

Suggested Citation

  • Isabel Ruiz & Carlos Vargas-Silva, 2021. "The Anxiety of Political Uncertainty: Insights from the Brexit Vote," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 697(1), pages 81-98, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:697:y:2021:i:1:p:81-98
    DOI: 10.1177/00027162211058389
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00027162211058389
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/00027162211058389?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Souvik Banerjee & Pinka Chatterji & Kajal Lahiri, 2017. "Effects of Psychiatric Disorders on Labor Market Outcomes: A Latent Variable Approach Using Multiple Clinical Indicators," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 184-205, February.
    2. Nattavudh Powdthavee & Anke C. Plagnol & Paul Frijters & Andrew E. Clark, 2019. "Who Got the Brexit Blues? The Effect of Brexit on Subjective Wellbeing in the UK," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 86(343), pages 471-494, July.
    3. Pinka Chatterji & Margarita Alegría & Mingshan Lu & David Takeuchi, 2007. "Psychiatric disorders and labor market outcomes: evidence from the National Latino and Asian American Study," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(10), pages 1069-1090.
    4. Osea Giuntella & Fabrizio Mazzonna & Catia Nicodemo & Carlos Vargas-Silva, 2019. "Immigration and the reallocation of work health risks," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 1009-1042, July.
    5. Thiemo Fetzer & Lukas Hensel & Johannes Hermle & Christopher Roth, 2021. "Coronavirus Perceptions and Economic Anxiety," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 103(5), pages 968-978, December.
    6. Paul Frijters & David W. Johnston & Michael A. Shields, 2014. "The Effect Of Mental Health On Employment: Evidence From Australian Panel Data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(9), pages 1058-1071, September.
    7. Liew, Tim & Goodwin, Robin & Walasek, Lukasz, 2020. "Voting patterns, revoking article 50 and antidepressant trends in England following the Brexit referendum," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    8. Julie Loebach Wetherell & Chandra A. Reynolds & Margaret Gatz & Nancy L. Pedersen, 2002. "Anxiety, Cognitive Performance, and Cognitive Decline in Normal Aging," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 57(3), pages 246-255.
    9. Ansgar Belke & Daniel Gros, 2017. "The Economic Impact of Brexit: Evidence from Modelling Free Trade Agreements," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 45(3), pages 317-331, September.
    10. Leonie Huddy & Stanley Feldman & Charles Taber & Gallya Lahav, 2005. "Threat, Anxiety, and Support of Antiterrorism Policies," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 49(3), pages 593-608, July.
    11. Carlos Vargas-Silva, 2016. "EU Migration to and from the UK After Brexit," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 51(5), pages 251-255, September.
    12. Pinka Chatterji & Margarita Alegría & Mingshan Lu & David Takeuchi, 2007. "Psychiatric disorders and labor market outcomes: evidence from the National Latino and Asian American Study," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(10), pages 1069-1090, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ross Macmillan & Carmel Hannan, 2025. "Re-Assessing the Impact of Brexit on British Fertility Using Difference-in-Difference Estimation," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 44(4), pages 1-20, August.
    2. Ortlund, Kaegan & Chandler, Madeline & Lin, Betty & Anastario, Michael & Eick, Stephanie M., 2025. "Politics negatively impacts women's mental health in Georgia: Depression, anxiety, and perceived stress from 2023 to 2024," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 368(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Henri Salokangas, 2021. "Exploring the labor market consequences of psychiatric disorders: An event study approach," Discussion Papers 148, Aboa Centre for Economics.
    2. Monica Deza & Johanna Catherine Maclean & Keisha T. Solomon, 2020. "Local Access to Mental Healthcare and Crime," NBER Working Papers 27619, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Ringdal, Charlotte & Rootjes, Frank, 2022. "Depression and labor supply: Evidence from the Netherlands," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    4. de Oliveira, Claire & Jamieson, Margaret & Bonato, Sara, 2025. "Mental health as a determinant of work: a scoping review on the impact of mental health on precarious employment," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    5. Bubonya, Melisa & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Ribar, David C., 2017. "The Bilateral Relationship between Depressive Symptoms and Employment Status," IZA Discussion Papers 10653, IZA Network @ LISER.
    6. Deza, Monica & Maclean, Johanna Catherine & Solomon, Keisha, 2022. "Local access to mental healthcare and crime," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    7. Elena Lagomarsino & Alessandro Spiganti, 2020. "No gain in pain: psychological well-being, participation, and wages in the BHPS," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(9), pages 1375-1389, December.
    8. Teng-Yuan Hu & Shih-Hsuan Chang, 2026. "The Impact of Psychiatric Disorders on Employment Across Sectors in Taiwan," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 16(5), pages 1-5.
    9. Diby, Akissi S. & Lengagne, Pascale & Regaert, Camille, 2021. "Employment Vulnerability of People With Severe Mental Illness," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(2), pages 269-275.
    10. Eliason, Marcus, 2023. "The financial situation before and after first-time psychiatric in-patient diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum, bipolar, and major depressive disorder," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    11. Nafilyan, Vahé & Pabon, Mauricio Avendano & de Coulon, Augustin, 2021. "The Causal Impact of Depression on Cognitive Functioning: Evidence from Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 14049, IZA Network @ LISER.
    12. Danusha Jayawardana & Brenda Gannon & Jenny Doust & Gita D. Mishra, 2023. "Excess healthcare costs of psychological distress in young women: Evidence from linked national Medicare claims data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(3), pages 715-734, March.
    13. Mark L Bryan & Nigel Rice & Jennifer Roberts & Cristina Sechel, 2022. "Mental Health and Employment: A Bounding Approach Using Panel Data," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 84(5), pages 1018-1051, October.
    14. Stéphane Mahuteau & Rong Zhu, 2016. "Crime Victimisation and Subjective Well‐Being: Panel Evidence From Australia," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(11), pages 1448-1463, November.
    15. Germinario, Giuseppe & Amin, Vikesh & Flores, Carlos A. & Flores-Lagunes, Alfonso, 2022. "What can we learn about the effect of mental health on labor market outcomes under weak assumptions? Evidence from the NLSY79," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    16. Tomohiko INUI & Atsushi KAWAKAMI & Xin Xin MA & Meng ZHAO, 2019. "Does Mental Health Affect Labor Market Outcomes? Evidence from a National Representative Survey in Japan," Discussion papers 19061, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    17. Lebenbaum, Michael & Laporte, Audrey & de Oliveira, Claire, 2021. "The effect of mental health on social capital: An instrumental variable analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    18. Bryan, M.; & Roberts, J.; & Sechel, C.;, 2019. "The Effect of Mental Health on Employment:Accounting for Selection Bias," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 19/14, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    19. Henri Salokangas, 2021. "Mental disorders and lifetime earnings," Discussion Papers 145, Aboa Centre for Economics.
    20. Messel, Matt & Swensen, Isaac & Urban, Carly, 2023. "The effects of expanding access to mental health services on SS(D)I applications and awards," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:697:y:2021:i:1:p:81-98. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.