Between 1850 and 1914 about 55 million Europeans migrated to the New World including North and South America, and Australia. This movement marked a profound shift in global population and economic activity. The authors describe this phenomenon and analyse the effects that underlie it.
About 55 million Europeans migrated to the New World between 1850 and 1914, landing in North and South America and in Australia. This movement, which marked a profound and permanent shift in global population and economic activity, is described in vivid detail by Timothy J. Hatton and Jeffrey G. Williamson, and the causes and effects relative to this great relocation are soundly analysed. The Age of Mass Migration offers a thorough treatment of a period of vital development in the economic history of the modern world and, moreover, devotes much objective consideration to certain economic questions that still baffle us today: Why does a nation's emigration rate typically rise with early industrialization? How do immigrants choose their destinations? Are international labour markets segmented? Do immigrants truly "rob" jobs from locals? What impact do immigrants have on wage rates and living standards in the host country? In addressing these issues, and many of others, this book takes a new and comprehensive view of mass migration. Although somewhat controversial in terms of method--it assigns to a social phenomenon an economic explanation and interpretation-- The Age of Mass Migration will be useful to all students of migration, historical or contemporary, and to anyone interested in international economic activities.
'(The authors) have painstakingly pieced together historical data sets from diverse sources and conducted rigorous analyses to provide an understanding of the economic fundamentals of European mass migration. ... Hatton and Williamson are to be congratulated for weaving together a series of empirically rigorous studies of European emigration into a superbly written and edited volume ... should be on the must-read list of scholars interested in the labour market impacts of contemporary immigration to the United States.' Economic Geography
