As Mr Petersen points out in this study, since the war there has been a very strong belief in the Netherlands that emigration is necessary. Even those who never before occupied themselves with these matters now speak of the large natural increase, the overpopulation, and the lack of opportunities in the Netherlands. Thousands are considering the possibility of leaving their home land and creating a new existence for themselves overseas. It is a mistake to suppose, however, that these ideas stem from the special demographic and economic conditions that arose in the Netherlands since the war;...

Professor Hofstee has collected together, in compact and highly readable form, some of the most important conclusions so far reached in the study of selective aspects of internal and external migration. Of still greater value, however, than this sum mary of findings, and more stimulating to those of us who are directly concerned with demographic research, are Professor Hofstee's comments on the undocumented hypotheses with which the literature of migration abounds, and his suggestions concern ing the kinds of questions to which objective answers are needed if effective progress is to be made...