Mind the gap: why wealthy voters support Brexit
Wealth provides self-insurance against financial risk, reducing risk aversion. We apply this insurance mechanism to electoral behaviour, arguing that a voter who desires a change to the status quo and who is wealthy is more likely to vote for change than a voter who lacks the same self-insurance. We...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2024
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| _version_ | 1811140043793760256 |
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| author | Green, J Pahontu, RL |
| author_facet | Green, J Pahontu, RL |
| author_sort | Green, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Wealth provides self-insurance against financial risk, reducing risk aversion. We apply this insurance mechanism to electoral behaviour, arguing that a voter who desires a change to the status quo and who is wealthy is more likely to vote for change than a voter who lacks the same self-insurance. We apply this argument to the case of Brexit in the UK, which has been widely characterized as a vote by the ‘economically left-behind’. Our results show that individuals who lacked wealth are less likely to support leaving the EU, explaining why so many Brexit voters were wealthy, in terms of their property wealth. We corroborate our theory using two panel surveys, accounting for unobserved individual-level heterogeneity, and by using a survey experiment. The findings have implications for the potential broader role of wealth-as-insurance in electoral behaviour and for understanding the Brexit case. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:18:55Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:90c76400-47c3-4409-81fa-04e7af212e8d |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:15:43Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:90c76400-47c3-4409-81fa-04e7af212e8d2024-07-16T10:43:59ZMind the gap: why wealthy voters support BrexitJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:90c76400-47c3-4409-81fa-04e7af212e8dEnglishSymplectic ElementsCambridge University Press2024Green, JPahontu, RLWealth provides self-insurance against financial risk, reducing risk aversion. We apply this insurance mechanism to electoral behaviour, arguing that a voter who desires a change to the status quo and who is wealthy is more likely to vote for change than a voter who lacks the same self-insurance. We apply this argument to the case of Brexit in the UK, which has been widely characterized as a vote by the ‘economically left-behind’. Our results show that individuals who lacked wealth are less likely to support leaving the EU, explaining why so many Brexit voters were wealthy, in terms of their property wealth. We corroborate our theory using two panel surveys, accounting for unobserved individual-level heterogeneity, and by using a survey experiment. The findings have implications for the potential broader role of wealth-as-insurance in electoral behaviour and for understanding the Brexit case. |
| spellingShingle | Green, J Pahontu, RL Mind the gap: why wealthy voters support Brexit |
| title | Mind the gap: why wealthy voters support Brexit |
| title_full | Mind the gap: why wealthy voters support Brexit |
| title_fullStr | Mind the gap: why wealthy voters support Brexit |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mind the gap: why wealthy voters support Brexit |
| title_short | Mind the gap: why wealthy voters support Brexit |
| title_sort | mind the gap why wealthy voters support brexit |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT greenj mindthegapwhywealthyvoterssupportbrexit AT pahonturl mindthegapwhywealthyvoterssupportbrexit |