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PurposeThe present paper aims to evaluate the structural impact of exogenously induced fiscal shocks on the Moroccan economy. This entails an analysis of the effect on the GDP of COVID-19-induced fiscal shocks manifesting in terms of budgetary revenues and expenditures. A key aspect of this analysis addresses the size of the tax and fiscal multipliers.Design/methodology/approachThe study examines the structural relationship between five variables during the period between Q1 2009 and Q2 2020 using an SVAR approach that allows for a dynamic interaction between ordinary expenditures and revenues on a quarterly basis.FindingsPositive structural shocks on public spending are likely to negatively impact economic growth. Negative economic growth, in turn, will damage price levels and interest rates, mainly over the long term. However, public-revenue-multiplier-associated shocks exceed these price- and interest-rate multiplier-associated shocks. Indeed, a structural shock to ordinary revenues can have a positive but insignificant impact on the GDP stemming from the ensuing decrease in the government budget deficit that proceeds from the increase in government revenues.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies in the Moroccan context to assess the impact of the current worldwide pandemic on public finances. In addition, this study highlights the importance of boosting economic recovery through public spending.

It is commonly accepted that the majority of companies have started to introduce R&D activities and innovation to improve their exports, especially, after the appearance of the pandemic of COVID-19. The objective of this work is to analyze the effects of innovation on the export of the agri-food sector in Morocco through a study based on panel data covering the period 2007-2018 by exploiting a gravity model estimated by the Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood method (PPML). The results of our study showed that the export of the agri-food sector is positively influenced by the innovative factor of the country (patent filings) alongside the traditional factors of our model such as production, the wealth of partner countries and distance.

L’exportation des produits agroalimentaires occupe une place importante dans le développement de l’économie marocaine. Par ailleurs, plusieurs établissements agroalimentaires ont recours aux activités de R&D et l’innovation pour améliorer leurs performances. Ainsi, le présent travail a pour objectif d’évaluer empiriquement l’impact de l’innovation sur la performance exportatrice du secteur agroalimentaire au Maroc. Il porte essentiellement sur l’analyse des déterminants des exportations agroalimentaires, en utilisant un modèle gravitationnel. Les résultats de ce modèle estimé par la méthode Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) sur la période 2007-2018 en données de panel montrent que l’exportation dudit secteur est influencée par l’output de l’innovation, la production, la richesse des pays partenaires ainsi que la distance. Les accords de libre-échange conclus par le Maroc, les IDE réalisés ainsi que le tarif douanier appliqué sur les produits agroalimentaires n’ont aucun effet sur l’exportation agroalimentaire du Maroc., Alternatives Managériales Economiques, Vol. 3, No 1 (2021)

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the dynamic response of a small subset of variables to exchange rate shocks by using a new method based on a set of theory-consistent sign restrictions for the purpose of identifying shocks over time (1995Q1–2019Q1) in the Moroccan economy. It is important to note that the current account presents the so-called “J-curve” phenomenon. Additionally, Morocco entered into a period of deeper and longer recession and higher inflation following the dirham’s depreciation. Following a real depreciation, the output has little effect on improving the current account balance. Our results suggest that the monetary authorities reacted immediately to exchange rate shocks by raising their interest rates to prevent the economy from falling into deflation.

This work sets the objective of analyzing the impact that fiscal policies (fiscal and public expenditure) can have on economic growth and poverty in Morocco. This analysis is conducted through a computable general equilibrium model where the macro-micro link is established. The splitting of the household agent into a quintile makes the model a powerful instrument for analyzing the effects of these policies on the behavior of the different classes of households.

This paper aims to analyse the Moroccan tax potential compared to a sample of countries (panel), relying on the tax effort concept, wich allows isolating the part of the government public levying. It is an international study, using a panel data (25 countries-26 years). The result of econometrics estimations shows the positive effect of the GDP per capita, the openness degree of the economy, the monetization degree and the part of industrial Added Value on the public potential while the part of agricultural Added Value had a negative impact. Analyzing the tax effort, we find that Morocco had a negative effort between 1990 and 2004. But, since 2005, the policies pursued after the reform helped reverse the trend to achieve a positive effort. It means that Morocco exploits all his fiscal resources from the standard of the sample.Keywords. Tax burden, Tax potential, Tax effort, Structural factors, Panel.JEL. E62, G28, H21, C50.

In this paper, we will present an estimate of the intensity of competition in the different branches of the Moroccan industrial sector, in order to identify the branches that will be the subject of pro-competitive structural reforms, with the aim of strengthening the economic activity and job creation. For each industry, the intensity of competition is evaluated using the estimated margin factor (or markup) estimated from the method proposed by Roeger (1995). The econometric results obtained show that the relatively high margin factor in the "agrifood" and "chemical and parachemical" branches suggests that these industries are not very competitive over the 1985-2015 period. On the other hand, the branches of "mechanical, metallic and electrical" and "extractive" industries that have significantly lower markup rates compared to other industries appear to be more competitive. The estimate of margin factors over different periods will allow us to assess the evolution over time of the degree of competition in each of the branches studied. Thus, the estimate of markup rates during the period 1985-1999 remains unclear (the margin factor is significantly lower than 1), hence we need additional information to determine the degree of concentration of industrial branches. For the period 2000-2015, the "extractive", "chemical and parachemical" and "agro-food" branches are less competitive, while the "mechanical, metal and electrical" industries appear to be more competitive.Keywords. Morocco, Industrial sector, Industrial branches, Markup, Competition.JEL. L22, L25, L60, L71, O14.

The objective of this article is to analyze the behavior of the monetary authorities of Morocco in the readjustment of the official weights of anchor currencies in Dirham basket on April 13, 2015. To do this, we are taking into account the objective of the external financing constraints for comparing, with different scenarios, the optimal weights with the implicit weights of the currencies. Such a comparison proves that the authorities take more into consideration the structure of the commercial exchanges than that of the debt for the choice of the optimal weight of the anchor currency. In the final part of the paper, we have delved deeper into this issue by proposing a detailed sectoral study to examine the impact of the exchange rate on the trade balance for each activity sector. Our intention is to find out which foreign currency seems more volatile against the local currency in order to lead the economy to manage the stability of dirham by increasing its weight in the basket. As a result, the higher price elasticity of the Dollar against the dirham encourages Moroccan monetary authorities to increase its weight in the basket.

This paper aims to examine empirically the impact of price and real exchange rate volatility on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows. The sample used is based on the Mediterranean countries of Morocco and Turkey for the period 1990-2017. Empirical findings for Morocco revealing that in both short and long-terms, real exchange rate volatility is negative and highly significant. Price volatility depicts a positive effect, which means that greater volatility of inflation may cause greater marginal profitability of capital and hence increase investment. On the other hand, for Turkey, FDI inflows are found more elastic to domestic price fluctuations. The exchange rate volatility, instead, turned out to have a positive but insignificant effect. In addition, we found that the potential market size rate, institution quality, and infrastructure appear to be the key factors in attracting foreign capital in both countries. As for trade openness, a positive effect on FDI flows is only perceptible in Morocco. In addition, the series of structural reforms carried out by Turkish government have generated real benefits for foreign investors by creating the adequate environment. This has allowed Turkey to overcome the problems it was facing in attracting foreign investment during the period analysed.

Our goal in this paper is to explore the determinants of tax revenues in developing countries. After reviewing the main determinants discussed in economic literature, two models are estimated in a panel including 29 lower middle income countries over the period 2001-2014. The first concerns the tax capacity and the second the tax effort. The results show that per capita GDP and the value added of agriculture are significantly and positively correlated with tax revenues. The degree of openness has a positive but insignificant effect on tax revenues. The impact of population growth rate is negative but not significant. For the determinants of tax effort, the impacts of inflation and public spending are significant and positive. The relationship between the tax effort and the variables "public aid received" and "foreign debt" is significantly negative.

In this study, we will focus on the different dimensions of performance, and make a descriptive analysis of the industrial sector’s position in the national economy. We will also assess the clout and the performance of each industrial branch, through the measurement of the following indicators: the added value, the employment, the number of companies, the investment, the foreign trade, the comparative advantage and the degree of export commitment. This research shows that the industry contributes the most to GDP with an average of about 19% during the 1985-2016 period, followed by agriculture with (15%), trade with (12%), construction industry and public works with (5%). By industry, statistics show the predominance of the agri-food, textile, leather, mechanical, metal and electrical industries in overall industrial production over the period 1985-2016, while in terms of exports, the mechanical, metallic, electrical", and "textile and leather" branches are at the top of the list with a share of 27% for each. Over the period of 1985-2014, the chemical and parachemical industry ranks first in terms of investments in the industrial sector with a 33% share, and thus promises significant growth prospects. In terms of regions, figures show the predominance of the Grand Casablanca region, which accounts for 41% of companies created, 61% of national industrial production, 56% of industrial exports, and 50% of the total workforce employed during the 1985-2014 period. All this is happening with a remarkable rise of the Tangier-Tetouan region in recent years.

In this paper, we dealt with the problem of the rejections of fishery products exported to other countries via Morocco and their economic impact. The study was conducted using a survey by exporters of the fishing industry. The analysis of data shows that backflows can be caused by different sanitary or documentary reasons. Also, the health profile for the main species can be assessed by a criticality matrix "fish species: hazard: commodity". The determinants of the rejections of exported fish products were analyzed by a multiple regression. This econometric technique is considered valuable in our study to evaluate the impact of a set of variables on the cost of the rejections of fishery products. The rejections of fishery products have a tremendous impact both on fish business operators as well as for the competent authorities. Hence, there is the need to control the various health hazards associated with fishery products by professionals. This was done by adopting plans for health control within their establishments and for the strengthening of official control by the competent authority in a coregulation framework.

This paper examines how the taxation (tax revenue) affects the economic growth in Morocco relying to the endogenous growth model of Barro (1990). After recalculating a new series of public capital and private capital and based on simultaneous equations model, one production function type Cobb Douglas with 3 factors (public capital, private capital and employment) has been estimated with data covering the period 1980-2015. The idea is to measure the effect of taxation on economic growth through its impact on public capital. The results find that the relationship between the two variables is positive. The householders can finance the public capital by taxes. And the public capital improves the economic growth.