Rural crisis and rural exodus? Local migration dynamics during the crisis of the 1840s in Flanders (Belgium)

Nick Deschacht and Anne Winter

Explorations in Economic History, 2015, vol. 56, issue C, 32-52

Abstract: This article analyses the migration dynamics in the wake of the 1845–1847 subsistence crisis in Flanders by means of a quantitative analysis of key demographic and economic data at municipal level. The data are unique in that they allow to directly measure in-migration and out-migration at the level of individual villages and towns. The results show that contrary to the powerful image of a push-driven rural exodus, it was not the villages hardest hit by the crisis that recorded the highest levels of migration. Rather, in-migration and out-migration rates often moved in tandem, and were determined primarily by existing migration traditions.

Keywords: Migration; Nineteenth century; Rural crisis; Belgium; Flanders (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N33 N93 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:exehis:v:56:y:2015:i:c:p:32-52

DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2014.11.001

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