Commuting, Migration, Housing and Labour Markets: Complex Interactions Anette Haas and Liv Osland [Paper first received, March 2013; in final form, May 2013] 1. Introduction and Aim Commuting, migration, housing and labour markets are important for the overall econ- omy and for the everyday life of many people. Commuting makes up a large part of all journeys world-wide and many resource- demanding transport investment projects are initiated to cope with this type of travel- ling. In a range of countries, increasing flows of national and international migration are central determinants of demographic devel- opments. In industrialised countries, the working-age population or those aspiring to be part of the economically active popula- tion constitute a large proportion of the total population. Consequently, income earned through working represents a major component of total earnings in these econo- mies (Cahuc and Zylberberg, 2004). In order to obtain an efficient labour market, workers should locate and relocate to where the rele- vant jobs are to be found. From an economic point of view, commuting and migration are essential elements for obtaining a well-func- tioning labour market (Fischer et al., 1996; Lux and Sunega, 2012; Zabel, 2012). Finally, housing is a basic good and for many people rents or loan repayments make up a rela- tively large proportion of their overall budget (OECD, 2011). Moreover, housing represents a dominating element of home- owners’ wealth or equity. Due to its central role during the financial and economic crisis starting around 2007, it has become clear that housing prices are important for the development of the overall economy in many countries (for example, Muellbauer and Murphy, 2008; Zabel, 2012). Housing and labour markets are linked in many ways. When explaining these links it is useful to start with some of the distinguished features of housing markets. As already mentioned, houses frequently constitute a major part of households’ wealth. Moreover, earned income from employment is a major Anette Haas is in the Institute for Employment Research, Regensburger Strasse 104, D-90478 Nuremberg, Germany. Email: anette.haas@iab.de. Liv Osland is in the Stord/Haugesund University College, Bjørnsonsgate 45, 5528 Haugesund, Norway. Email: liv.osland@hsh.no. Special Issue Editorial: Commuting, Migration, Housing and Labour Markets: Complex Interactions 51(3) 463–476, February 2014 0042-0980 Print/1360-063X Online Ó 2013 Urban Studies Journal Limited DOI: 10.1177/0042098013498285