The Christian Science Monitor:
Why Brexit vote prompted Vodafone to contemplate leaving Britain
29 June 2016
Vodafone's warning could perhaps foreshadow a possible shift in jobs and investments from Britain to the rest of the EU. ''It will be more a movement on the margins than big, discreet changes,'' Thomas Sampson, a professor at the London School of Economics (LSE) who specializes in international trade, growth, and development, tells The Christian Science Monitor a phone interview. ''We might see some companies like Vodafone relocating their headquarters. We might see others investing less in the UK,'' he adds, mentioning, as an example, a financial firm relocating jobs from London to Paris, Frankfurt, or other cities in the Eurozone.
''The UK [labor] market is highly dynamic and would adjust to these changed trade arrangements quickly,'' writes Ryan Bourne, the head of public policy at the London-based Institute of Economic Affairs think tank ...
Swati Dhingra, Mr. Sampson's colleague and a lecturer at the London School of Economics, disagrees, telling the Monitor that Vodafone's concerns are symbolic of a larger trend. ''It says even service trade companies, or companies that we think of as advanced manufacturers, are the ones moving their headquarters somewhere else,'' she says in a phone interview Wednesday. ''That is the real concern for the UK. It's not bad jobs moving away. It's good jobs potentially moving away.''
This article was published online by The Christian Science Monitor on June 29, 2016
Link to article here
Related publications
Life after Brexit : What are the UK’s options outside the European Union?, Swati Dhingra and Thomas Sampson, CEP Brexit Analysis Series Paper No.01, February 2016
The impact of Brexit on foreign investment in the UK, Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco Ottaviano, Thomas Sampson and John Van Reenen, CEP Brexit Analysis Series Paper No.03, April 2016
Technical Appendix to CEP Brexit Analysis Series Paper No.03
See the complete series of CEP Brexit Analysis papers here
Related links
Swati Dhingra webpage
Thomas Sampson webpage
Trade Programme webpage