What were the main social, economic, and political causes and effects of this new age of migration?

Social Causes: People in lower classes of society felt oppressed even in their homes by the empirical ruling system, so through migration they believed they would be able to find better lives, and possibly move up in the social hierarchy of their new region.

Social Effects: These lower class migrants would travel to a new country, and would create new social classes similar to the merchant class.  The immigrants could also come to be seen as "foreigners" and disliked by people who had lived in the area for a long time.

Economic Causes: The main economic cause of migration was the lack of jobs in an area.  If people couldn't find jobs where they lived, then they migrated to an area where there was more work.

Economic Effects: Immigration to an area could lead to a shortage of jobs in that area.  Immigration from an area could lead to an economic downturn due to the lack of workers.

Political Causes: Overtaxation by the government often caused people to migrate to new areas to avoid such heavy taxes.  These taxes influenced the lower classes, for the most part, because the wealthy could afford to pay heavy taxes.

Political Effects: New ideas of government were introduced into different areas.  Many governments were also forced to introduce policies related to immigration because of the unprecedented migration.