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Did regional EU funding impact the Brexit referendum?

Dobreff, Freja LU (2020) NEKH02 20201
Department of Economics
Abstract
Following a 2016 referendum on European Union membership where 51.9% of the British electorate voted to leave, the United Kingdom has decided to exit the EU and will therefore no longer receive regional EU funding. Previous studies on the voting pattern of the referendum have shown that the concentration of the Leave vote tended to be stronger in regions that have struggled economically in recent decades. This essay aims to examine the relationship between the Leave vote in local areas and regional EU funding, and to what extent the Leave vote was contingent on local economic growth factors such as the growth of GDP per capita, disposable household income and employment.

To determine the effect of the economic variables on the Leave... (More)
Following a 2016 referendum on European Union membership where 51.9% of the British electorate voted to leave, the United Kingdom has decided to exit the EU and will therefore no longer receive regional EU funding. Previous studies on the voting pattern of the referendum have shown that the concentration of the Leave vote tended to be stronger in regions that have struggled economically in recent decades. This essay aims to examine the relationship between the Leave vote in local areas and regional EU funding, and to what extent the Leave vote was contingent on local economic growth factors such as the growth of GDP per capita, disposable household income and employment.

To determine the effect of the economic variables on the Leave vote, regressions were conducted using regional economic data covering the years 1998-2015. The results show that the relationship between regional EU funding and the Leave vote was positive and significant. The results further show that the relative impact of regional funding on the referendum was limited. These findings suggest that the referendum result was largely contingent on local economic growth factors. (Less)
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author
Dobreff, Freja LU
supervisor
organization
course
NEKH02 20201
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Brexit, European integration, Cohesion Policy, voting patterns, regional economic growth
language
English
id
9013654
date added to LUP
2020-08-29 11:27:04
date last changed
2020-08-29 11:27:04
@misc{9013654,
  abstract     = {{Following a 2016 referendum on European Union membership where 51.9% of the British electorate voted to leave, the United Kingdom has decided to exit the EU and will therefore no longer receive regional EU funding. Previous studies on the voting pattern of the referendum have shown that the concentration of the Leave vote tended to be stronger in regions that have struggled economically in recent decades. This essay aims to examine the relationship between the Leave vote in local areas and regional EU funding, and to what extent the Leave vote was contingent on local economic growth factors such as the growth of GDP per capita, disposable household income and employment.

To determine the effect of the economic variables on the Leave vote, regressions were conducted using regional economic data covering the years 1998-2015. The results show that the relationship between regional EU funding and the Leave vote was positive and significant. The results further show that the relative impact of regional funding on the referendum was limited. These findings suggest that the referendum result was largely contingent on local economic growth factors.}},
  author       = {{Dobreff, Freja}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Did regional EU funding impact the Brexit referendum?}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}