Publications /
Policy Paper

Back
Measuring the Middle Class in the World and in Morocco
July 11, 2019

The rise of the middle class in the emerging economies is affecting significantly consumption habits and thus, transforming these economies. The size and growth of the middle class is of interest to gauge market potential for many products, and can serve as a barometer of political awareness. Measuring the Middle Class using income presents many challenges, beginning with finding an appropriate definition. Previous research by Ali and Dadush (2012) suggested an alternative measure, which can complement the studies based on household surveys: using cars in circulation. In the developing world, unlike in high income countries, buying a car is virtually synonymous with entry into the middle class. This paper updates the previous research conducted by Ali and Dadush using the most recent data, and also extends the analysis to a much larger sample of developing countries. The case of Morocco, a country where the middle class is growing rapidly and has rising expectations, is reviewed. While cars in circulation are certainly not a perfect measure of the rise of the middle class in developing countries, the measure points to an extraordinarily challenging period ahead for governments, especially in middle-income developing countries, such as Morocco. Governments will see their tax revenues grow, but demands on them will grow even more rapidly. At the same time, many companies will see wide new business horizons open to them.

RELATED CONTENT

  • August 16, 2023
    L’amélioration de la qualité des apprentissages constitue un défi majeur pour le système éducatif marocain, qui, d'après de nombreuses évaluations qualitatives et quantitatives, se positionne parmi les moins performants en termes de compétences scolaires. Les résultats des tests internationaux tels que TIMSS et PIRLS mettent en évidence des scores préoccupants en mathématiques, sciences et lecture, démontrant que plus de 40 % des élèves ne parviennent pas à atteindre ...
  • Authors
    Inácio F. Araújo
    Chaimaa Chawki
    Rachida El-Mansouma
    Marouane Masnaoui
    August 1, 2023
    This Paper was originally published on sciencedirect.com   The closing of Samir's Mohammedia refinery in August 2015 due to financial constraints has dramatically affected the fuel oil market in Morocco. In this paper, we assess the economic and environmental impacts of the disruption of Morocco's only refinery activities. We can isolate the oil refinery sector associated with Samir in a fully specified interregional input-output database, considering 20 industries in 12 Moroccan ...
  • July 18, 2023
    Le secteur informel est une composante essentielle de l'économie marocaine, employant une large partie de la population, mais nuisant à la productivité, aux recettes fiscales de l’État et à la croissance économique à long terme. Sur la base de la définition adoptée dans cette étude et qui définit les travailleurs informels comme étant ceux qui ne sont pas couverts par les régimes contributifs de sécurité sociale de la Caisse nationale de sécurité sociale (CNSS) et d ...
  • Authors
    Zakaria Elouaourti
    July 13, 2023
    This paper was originally published on tandfonline.com   This paper explores new pathways to women's empowerment, including household structure, family support, satisfaction and self-esteem, and trust in institutions and politicians, and their impact on labor market participation, with a specific focus on gender differences. Using a microeconomic database of 7,860 individuals from North Africa and employing a Probit model, we find that gender significantly influences labor market ...
  • Authors
    Zakaria Elouaourti
    July 1, 2023
    This paper was originally published on erf.org.eg   The digital divide in the financial sector has occurred through the development of financial technologies. These latest “FinTech” refers to technological innovations that have emerged in the financial system in recent years, which are the new channels for providing financial services. These innovations have disrupted traditional financing models by making financial transactions more secure and by reducing spatiotemporal constrain ...
  • June 26, 2023
    L’amélioration de la qualité des apprentissages constitue un défi majeur pour le système éducatif marocain. D’après de nombreuses évaluations, aussi bien qualitatives que quantitatives, le Maroc se place parmi les pays les moins performants en matière de qualité des acquis scolaires. Un autre aspect des faibles réalisations du pays au niveau des tests internationaux est le poids des élèves dits « peu performants1 », et considérés comme particulièrement à risque. L’importance de ce ...
  • Authors
    Gladys Lopez-Acevedo
    Marco Ranzani
    Nistha Sinha
    Adam Elsheikh
    June 23, 2023
    This report was originally published on openknowledge.worldbank.org The long-standing informality debate in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region has taken on a new urgency as it looks for a pathway to more socially inclusive growth that is less reliant on fossil fuels. This is occurring against a backdrop of subpar labor market outcomes, further growth setbacks, and deteriorating fiscal and current account de ficits in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic—and in the wak ...
  • Authors
    June 13, 2023
    Le Salon international de l’édition et du livre (SIEL), dont la 28ème édition  s’est achevée le 11 juin 2023, a une fois de plus été l'occasion pour le ‘’petit’’ monde de l'édition de s'interroger sur son avenir. Les rencontres du SIEL ont réuni les différents maillons de la chaîne de production du livre, des auteurs aux éditeurs en passant par les acteurs de la distribution et de la promotion. C’est l’une des rares occasions de prendre le pouls des transformations de cette chaîne e ...
  • June 13, 2023
    يعد ميثاق الاستثمار الجديد، الصادر، في دجنبر 2022، والذي تم تطبيق أول مراسيمه، في يناير المنصرم، خارطة الطريق الإستراتيجية لإعطاء نفس جديد للاستثمار بالمغرب، الذي من شأنه أن يعزز تنافسية ...
  • Authors
    Abdelkhalek Touhami
    Dorothée Boccanfuso
    June 8, 2023
    The targeting of public policies, particularly those related to the reform of the social protection system in Morocco, is a major challenge, especially in assessing the impact of these measures on multidimensional poverty. By developing two targeting methods to approach the impact of the reform of the social protection system in Morocco on multidimensional poverty as measured by the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), we show that the three simulated reforms on education and healt ...