ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the causes and consequences of urban policies towards migrants and their relief entitlements in relation to conflicts over the distribution of the associated costs and gains. It discusses the conceptual assumptions underlying the analysis based on existing literature and sketch the historical background to the case study, before engaging in a discussion of the empirical materials. By exploring policies and conflicts pertaining to urban migration in Brabant during the second half of the eighteenth century, this chapter highlights the limits and possibilities of selective migration and relief policies in practice, and to gauge their impact on the lives and decisions of urban migrants. The chapter explores how urban authorities used this room to deal with mounting challenges of growing immigration and rising relief expenses in the second half of the eighteenth century. The Brabant material offers revealing of how urban authorities tried to overcome these deficiencies, conflicts and paradoxes by means of inter-parish negotiations and agreements.
