Determinants of social inequalities in Morocco

Abstract

Despite the efforts of the state, poverty has registered a huge decline, while inequality has remained strangely stable for over two decades. The objective of this study is to determine the reasons for the success of the state's efforts in the fight against poverty and the failure of its efforts in the fight against inequality. To do so, we used HCP data on the communal GINI indicator for the year 2007 and the communal development indicator published by ONDH in 2014. We thus estimated a cross-sectional model where the communes are our individuals for a number of individuals in a number of 1494 communes spread over the national territory. The explanatory variables relate to the lack of development factors such as health services, education, housing, and economic activities.

Our study found that inequalities predominate mainly in urban and sub-urban areas. This result can be explained by the fact that the least qualified labor force working in the urban environment often lives in the urban periphery, which is often less equipped with social services. Our study also shows that poverty is fairly widespread in rural areas, where inequality is low, in contrast to the low poverty rates in urban areas, which are associated with greater inequality. The authorities' efforts have been focused on promoting economic and income-generating activities to improve the living conditions of citizens. This paradigm has benefited all social strata, whether poor or rich. Hence the improvement in the living conditions of both the poor and the rich, keeping the level of inequality stable despite the reduction in poverty rates in recent years.

JEL Classification: I31

Paper type: Empirical research