It is almost certain that the British economy will not collapse. That said, it is also virtually certain that there will be at least a loss of economic growth,

It is almost certain that the British economy will not collapse. That said, it is also virtually certain that there will be at least a loss of economic growth, possibly a recession. The worst prediction I've seen by reputable economists (though that was before it became clear that May was going to push for a hard Brexit) was a loss of 9% of GDP growth by 2030. The bigger problem is that Britain is already facing significant structural challenges that are going to be compounded by Brexit. Too much of the economy is centered in the area around London [1], leaving the rest of the country relatively poor, and British productivity has consistently been low [2], compared to the US, Germany, and France. As Piketty discussed [3] (I'm greatly simplifying his more detailed analysis here), this leads to Americans working a lot and earning a lot, France and Germany trading income for more free time, and Brits working like Americans to have the economic per capita output of France and Germany. This is not a good situation to be in to face additional economic challenges. This does not mean that the economy will implode (which would be rather unlikely), but it does create unnecessary stress. [1] http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/GDP_at_regional_level http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/... [2] https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity/productivitymeasures/bulletins/internationalcomparisonsofproductivityfinalestimates/2014 https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity... [3] http://piketty.blog.lemonde.fr/2017/01/09/of-productivity-in-france-and-in-germany/ http://piketty.blog.lemonde.fr/2017/01/09/of-productivity-in...