Labor Migration to Western Europe: A Commentary on O'Loughlin 1986

In this commentary we challenge O'Loughlin's article published in Environment and Planning A, in which he concludes that economic factors only marginally influence migration from the European periphery to Western Europe. First, we consider several methodological inconsistencies that bring O'Loughlin's study into question. Second, a model is developed, derived from disequilibrium theory, that, in contrast to O'Loughlin's findings, demonstrates the importance of economic factors for international migration in Europe in the postwar period.