Can Economic Growth Be Pro-Poor In Morocco?. The No-Monetary Approach

This paper focuses the understanding for the poverty phenomenon in Morocco. Indeed, it is strongly based on the assessment and analysis of economic growth on the poorest people by using the calculation of poverty indexes as FGT, the decomposition of changes in the level of poverty, in the income and inequality factors, the construction of a pro-poor growth index and the growth incidence curves. The multidimensional approach was being adopted in order to assess and analyse the pro-poor growth in Morocco. It allows explaining the poverty by using the primary indicators of no-monetary aspects of households living conditions, which will give us the poverty measurement in Morocco during the period 1987-2004. This approach is based on the construction of well-being composite index (WCI), which is given by the statistical method of multiple correspondence analyses (MCA). The results obtained within the frame of multi-dimensional approach are not consistent with those obtained by the monetary approach, given in the literature. In addition, we have note that the poverty in Morocco is mainly a rural phenomenon and that the situation of the poor has deteriorated mainly because of greater inequalities in this area. In regard with the policy recommendations, it is necessary to target the most affected people by providing adequate economic and social policies, which should include a pro-poor growth strategy. This action seems very urgent. Also, a policy to fight against poverty must take into account the difference between areas and provides more resources to the rural poor people. Indeed, it seems that the bad living conditions in the Moroccan country-side led to the poverty exacerbation in the urban area, mainly due to the rural depopulation and the peasants land abandonment.