| Summary: | This paper examines the economic factors which partially explain the movements in this flow of labor from Europe to the U.S. in the period 1870-1914. Aggregate labor demand and supply functions are discussed and combined into a migration model. The paper offers both an examination of an important period in economic history and a further test of available aggregate demand and supply models for labor. The results suggest that aggregate demand and supply functions for labor derived from neoclassical production and consumer theory may be fruitfully applied to the analysis of the economic determinants of migration. European migration to the U.S. prior to World War I was significantly influenced by both employment opportunities in the particular European country, and the gain in real income to be achieved by migration to the U.S. Employment opportunities in the U.S., as distinct from the higher real wages, was of much less significance. Differences in the migrant stock between the European countries may also underlay variation in the level of migration to the United States.
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