蒙代尔将对劳动流动性的重要性的认识归功于另一位（未来）诺贝尔奖获得者米德，但也指出，米德对这一观点的解释太过严格，特别是在欧洲一体化刚刚出现萌芽的时候。
He credited another (future) Nobel Prize winner, James Meade, for having recognized the importance of labor mobility in earlier work, but criticized Meade for interpreting the idea too stringently, especially in the context of Europe’s nascent integration.