Inequality

Morocco’s strong macroeconomic performance over the past two decades—anchored in infrastructure modernization, industrial diversification, and renewable energy leadership—has positioned it as a success story in the Global South. Yet these achievements mask persistent regional disparities that undermine inclusive development. Coastal regions such as Casablanca-Settat and Tangier-Tétouan-Al Hoceima dominate economic activity, while hinterland and southern provinces face structural dis ...

Le constat est unanime et est constamment souligné : le modèle de développement en vigueur au Maroc a atteint ses limites. La Vision Royale, refusant « un Maroc à deux vitesses », vient formaliser au plus haut niveau cette préoccupation systémique, documentée par une décennie de rapports officiels. La  Vision de Sa Majesté le Roi Mohammed VI est un hymne à une dynamique de croissance dont les retombées doivent être plus équitablement réparties et à un développement te ...

This Paper was originally published on springer.com This paper provides an in-depth analysis of socio-economic convergence across communes in Morocco, focusing on monetary poverty and educational inequalities. This research investigates the impact of the well-known territorial and inclusive development policies of the National Initiative for Human Development on the catch-up process. We explore the data from the last two general population and housing censuses (2004 and 20 ...

The author of this opinion, Imane Lahlou, is a 2014 alumna of the Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders Program.Seeing the Script“What if you heard the same idea, delivered in the same words by two people, one from Sweden, the other from Senegal. Would it land the same? Whose room do you think would fill up first if both spoke on the same topic, for the same ticket price?”These were the opening questions of a charged conversation with two dear friends, as we began naming the ...

This paper was originally published on tandfonline.comYouth’s life paths have become increasingly challenging, especially for those classified as ‘Not in Education, Employment, or Training’ (NEET), who comprise 31.2% of North Africa’s youth population. This paper contributes to the growing discourse on the NEET phenomenon by exploring its structural and psychosocial dimensions in North Africa, with a specific focus on gender. Using a rich micro-level dataset of 7,815 individuals age ...

This Paper was originally published on tandfonline.com This paper analyzes gender disparities in reading and mathematics among Moroccan 4th-grade students using data from PIRLS 2021 (7,017 students) and TIMSS 2019 (13,536 students). Using the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition method, it separates performance gaps into explained (observable characteristics such as age, family background, teacher, and school factors) and unexplained (structural) components. In reading, the unexpl ...

Greater female participation in the labor market and in international trade have been recognized as important drivers for economic growth and essential targets in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, achieving both targets simultaneously will be difficult, if not impossible, in most Middle East and North African (MENA) countries without additional policies to eliminate the remarkably high levels of gender inequality in the labor market. I ...