With political and social fragmentation extending well beyond Europe, outsiders may be able to add some perspective to what is really at issue on the British referendum on whether to remain in the European Union.

First, it will come as no surprise that, in terms of the distribution of income, wealth and the costs and benefits of forced structural change, growth patterns in most of the developed world have been problematic for the past 20 years. We know that globalization and some aspects of digital technology (particularly those related to automation and disintermediation) have contributed to job and income polarization, placing sustained pressure on the middle class in every country.

Second, the EU's ongoing crisis (more like a chronic condition) has kept growth far too low and unemployment - especially youth unemployment - unacceptably high. And Europe is not alone. In the United States, while the formal unemployment rate has fallen, large-scale failures in terms of inclusiveness have fueled disenchantment - on both the left and the right - at growth patterns and policies that seem to benefit those at the top disproportionately.