Opening Remarks - Session 2: A High-level Conversation

La conférence-débat, organisée par l’OCP Policy Center, en association avec Sciences Po Paris Alumni Maroc (AMASP), le 26 avril 2018, autour du livre « Les enjeux du marché du travail au Maroc », et co-dirigé par Karim el Aynaoui et Aomar Ibourk, ne pouvait mieux tomber.  Le  pavé, de quelques 450 pages, bien structuré et fourni en données et en analyses « différenciées mais complémentaires » développées par une brochette d’experts et d’analystes, intervient dans un contexte nation ...

Destination-based business cash-flow taxes have received a great deal of attention and are being widely considered as a replacement for traditional, origin-based, corporate taxes. These taxes combine the strong revenue-raising ability of a VAT with an enormously expensive tax deduction for wages. They would certainly be attractive to foreign investors by eliminating the burden of current corporate taxes. However, adopting them at the rates typically discussed would raise consumer pr ...

This paper reports the results of an application using an interregional input-output matrix for Morocco together with regional information on water consumption by sectors. We develop a trade-based index that reveals the relative water use intensities associated with specific interregional and international trade flows. We estimate, for each flow associated with each origin-destination pair, measures of trade in value added and trade in water that are further used to calculate our in ...

In its March 2018 meeting, the Federal Reserve raised the target range for federal funds rate by a quarter point to 1.5-1.75 percent and Fed officials are now projecting a steeper path of hikes for the next two years. Recent inflation data would hint at the Fed staying firmly on track for another 25bp rate hike in June. As producer price inflation hit a seven-year high and a tightened labor market is exercising upward pressure on wage growth, there is no wonder expectations have sli ...

The recently signed African Continental Free Trade Agreement represents a countercurrent to protectionist tendencies across the Atlantic and the Pacific, and may well move the economic integration of the African continent forward. Translating the vision into action, however, will call upon signatories to undertake deeper domestic reforms and to confront specific challenges related to the agreement itself. This brief explains why the agreement is important for Africa and identifies p ...

The launch of an oil futures contract on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) cannot be merely seen as a “technical” or secondary event, as it foreshadows what global commodities markets will become in a few years. The Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) and the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) have, indeed, seen their trading volumes increase significantly over the past decade thanks to steel and iron ore, which could suggest that the move is, in fact, not that unprecedente ...

Le récent échange entre deux institutions nationales sur la création d’emplois dans le secteur industriel pose de nouveau les questions du mode de conception et de production des statistiques mises à la disposition du public. Les informations statistiques constituent une base indispensable pour fournir au débat démocratique des références robustes. Or, le Haut-Commissariat au Plan (HCP), principal acteur du système statistique national, se trouve parfois confronté à des difficultés ...