3 - Emigration and economic change in Europe

Summary

The peaks and troughs of emigration from the different European countries tended to coincide. This is particularly interesting. There were great differences in the economies and the societies of European countries. Is it likely, therefore, that the timing of emigration was determined by changes in economic and social conditions within the individual European countries? It is surely more probable that the timing was mainly determined by the degree of prosperity (e.g. the availability of jobs) in the destination countries.

This conclusion concerns the timing of emigration. It does not mean that fluctuations in the prosperity of the destination countries determined the rate of emigration from Europe. The decision to emigrate had two components: whether to go and when to go. The former was the more important. It was a complicated and difficult decision. But once the decision to emigrate (or to consider emigration) was made, it was not unreasonable for intending emigrants to wait until the prospects of employment and wage levels were favourable. The implication is that potential emigrants had some accurate knowledge about economic opportunities in the places to which they were going. This is an important point for which there is a great deal of independent evidence.

Conditions in many European countries in the nineteenth century were consistent with a high rate of emigration. For example, falling mortality led to faster population growth in most countries.