As global markets reel after an establishment-rattling vote by Britain to sever ties with Europe, investors are again expecting central banks to ride to the rescue.

And that may be the problem.

Or so believe a number of investors and economists who worry that another round of central bank intervention in the markets will compound the sense of alienation, frustration and anger at global elites that encouraged a majority of Britons to opt for leaving the European Union.

Traditionally, market participants have tended to cheer central bank activism.

In times of financial panic, wholesale bond buying, negative interest rates and disbursing cash directly to consumers (the yet-to-be-deployed weapon in the central banker’s armory) have been seen as easy policy substitutes for governments unwilling or incapable of taking action themselves.

But, as the world’s leading central bankers finished a weekend of brainstorming in Basel, Switzerland, as to what their next move might be, some feared that this time around they might do more harm than good.