A Treasury analysis suggests the costs of Brexit would be high

THERE is much dispute in the Brexit debate over the economic effects of leaving the EU. Even Brexiteers accept that there would be some short-term costs from uncertainty, but they claim that in the long run Britain could still be better off. Most objective economic studies disagree, finding that there would be long-term costs as well. On April 18th the Treasury weighed in with a 200-page analysis. Its conclusion is that they will be high: the central estimate touted by George Osborne, the chancellor, is that GDP may be 6.2% lower than it would otherwise have been by 2030, an annual cost that he reckons works out at some £4,300 ($6,000) per household.