Emma Wall: Three weeks ago Britain voted to leave the European Union. This week, 1,000 lawyers are saying that vote was not legally binding, as it was based on a “misrepresentation of facts and promises that could not be delivered”.
Regardless of how you voted the stories which have been shared since the result reveal that for many people was a decision based on emotion and personal triggers rather than the understanding of the broader economic impact or any particular business acumen.
The result seems to tie in with a feeling across the Western world – a rebellion against globalisation and those in power. The rise in populous politics can be seen in the success of Trump in the US and Marie Le Pen in France for example.
And what has triggered this movement? Well perhaps this graph can go some way to explain. This shows how the global community, that is everyone in the world has had their wealth increase, or decrease over the past 20 years.
Thanks to globalisation, the very poorest in the world have seen their wealth increase nearly 60% over the last 20 years. Indeed, if we have a look at the very richest in the world, they too have seen their personal wealth massively increase by around 60%.
However, if we look at the 20th percentile, that is those people who score around 80 or 100% of the entire world on the wealth scale, they have actually seen their personal wealth decrease. And who are these people? These people are the lower, and lower to middle income households in the western world.
Multi-asset investor for Columbia Threadneedle Toby Nangle has drawn an elephant over the top of this graph because he describes it as the “elephant in the room”. And suggests this could be a catalyst for why so many people in the west currently feel disenfranchised – enough to vote to leave the EU, and perhaps to elect Donal Trump President of the United States.
