Jean Pisani-Ferry explains why many British voters ahead of the June 23 referendum ignored warnings from economists and experts against possible "significant economic costs" following their "Leave" vote. Indeed, "there had been no shortage of advice in favor of remaining. Foreign leaders and moral authorities had voiced unambiguous concern about the consequences of an exit."

The psychological impact of these warnings had been overseen - Britons don't like being patronised. According to YouGov opinion poll Britsh voters "did not want their judgment to rely on politicians, academics, journalists, international organizations, or think tanks." Michael Gove, Cameron's justice secretary, an avid "Brexiteer" said very bluntly “people in this country have had enough of experts.”

That emotions prevail over "rationality" can also be observed in the US, where "Republican voters disregarded the pundits and nominated Donald Trump as their party’s presidential candidate." In France, Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front, despises intellectuals. She, likes Trump and Nigel Farage, enjoys "strong popular support" among working-class nationalists, who are disillusioned with mainstream parties. They long for the return to the good old days when they didn't need to worry about job security and living standards, and they didn't have to compete with foreigners for opportunities.

Indeed, many “Leave” voters "had no trust whatsoever in the advice-givers." Their anger and hostility towards "cognoscenti" stemmed from the loss of faith in "bearers of knowledge and expertise" who failed to predict the 2008 financial crisis. Even "Queen Elizabeth II spoke for many when, on a visit to the London School of Economics in the autumn of 2008, she asked why no one saw it coming." Besides economists are seen as part of the establishment, as depicted in the 2010 movie "Inside Job." There is a popular belief that the elites wouldn't hesitate to betray ordinary people. Indeed, "conomists (and policymakers) tend to look at issues in the aggregate, to take a medium-term perspective," while ordinary people tend to "care more about distributional issues, have different (often shorter) time horizons."

What most economists find unfair is that they have to bear the collective guilt of "only a few of them of them /who/ devoted themselves to scrutinizing financial developments." Since "no one pled guilty for the suffering that followed the crisis," they see "their credibility...seriously dented." Another accusation experts have to face is that they are "biased," and don't have the interests of ordinary people at heart, who resent "globalisation.... mobility of labor across borders, trade openness," etc.

The author says, there are some economists who don't see the downsides of "international integration" through the prism of ordinary people. The third point is that a country enjoys "overall benefits of openness" when its economy is strong, and its citizens tend to be more tolerable of immigration. But hostility arises, when they "experience downward wage pressure," or when their communities can no longer cope with "a scarcity of affordable housing, crowded schools, and an overwhelmed health system." Outrage mounts, when authorities do little to address their grievances.

The only way that "cognoscenti" can "regain their fellow citizens’ trust" is to listen to the concerns of ordinary people, and to experts "from other disciplines." They have to "be humble and avoid lecturing," and base their "policy views on the available evidence, rather than on preconceptions." Moreover "they should change their minds if the data do not confirm their beliefs." There is a tendency that experts "oversimplify their own views," to make them more comprehensible, which can also be irresponsible.

Basically the author is urging academians to cater to the intellectual needs of the masses, who lack higher education. But he has overlooked the human nature, that we often have an expectation-based selective attention. Regardless of our level of education we sometimes ignore or react strongly to what we don't want to see and hear. "Sheer intellectual laziness" is one explanation, mass media plays also a role in robbing us of our ability to understand, think and reason. Ordinary people "who have been hurt put the blame on "technocratic experts" or politicians. But "they could have been spared the pain" had they questioned their own actions.