Learning from the past: Clues to Brexit's future may be on a faraway island

There may be insights for the UK on leaving the European Union without a deal from a long time ago on the other side of the world.

Britain would experience an unprecedented hit to the supply side of the economy, according to Mark Carney, with overnight trade barriers hammering exports. The only relevant historical case the Bank of England governor has named is New Zealand in 1973.

That’s when the UK joined the European Economic Community, which meant abandoning its Commonwealth partner to favor European neighbors. In the decades before, New Zealand, known as “Britain’s farmyard,” was thriving as it