IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp16213.html

Trade Liberalization and Local Labor Markets in Morocco

Author

Listed:
  • Roche Rodriguez, Jaime Alfonso

    (World Bank)

  • Robertson, Raymond

    (Texas A&M University)

  • Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys

    (World Bank)

  • Zárate, Daniela Ruiz

    (Bank of Mexico)

Abstract

Morocco's trade liberalization policies have promoted economic progress over the past two decades. However, effects on Morocco's local labor market outcomes vary. By combining three complementary approaches and modeling techniques, this paper estimates: (i) how trade agreements have increased trade flows, (ii) the relationship between trade exposure and mixed local labor market outcomes, and (iii) the relationship between firm employment and exports. Our results show that trade policy has increased trade flows, but this has led to mixed results for workers: increased trade has decreased informality but has failed to improve female labor force participation (FLFP). This appears to be due to a shift from female labor-intensive industries, such as apparel and textile sectors, to capital-intensive sectors that are predominantly male-intensive. Our firm level analysis confirms these results by showing that increase in employment from exports has occurred mainly in male, labor-intensive sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • Roche Rodriguez, Jaime Alfonso & Robertson, Raymond & Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys & Zárate, Daniela Ruiz, 2023. "Trade Liberalization and Local Labor Markets in Morocco," IZA Discussion Papers 16213, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16213
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp16213.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Federica Alfani & Fabio Clementi & Michele Fabiani & Vasco Molini & Enzo Valentini, 2023. "Once NEET, always NEET? A synthetic panel approach to analyze the Moroccan labor market," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(4), pages 2401-2437, November.
    2. Thomas Chaney, 2018. "The Gravity Equation in International Trade: An Explanation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(1), pages 150-177.
    3. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/3pucspchqi8kcpk743av62v2va is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Thomas Chaney, 2018. "The Gravity Equation in International Trade: an Explanation," SciencePo Working papers hal-03391935, HAL.
    5. Timothy Halliday & Daniel Lederman & Raymond Robertson, 2018. "Tracking wage inequality trends with prices and different trade models: evidence from Mexico," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 154(1), pages 47-73, February.
    6. Sergio Correia & Paulo Guimarães & Tom Zylkin, 2020. "Fast Poisson estimation with high-dimensional fixed effects," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 20(1), pages 95-115, March.
    7. Berg,Claudia N. & Robertson,Raymond & Lopez-Acevedo,Gladys C., 2022. "Exports and Labor Demand : Evidence from Egyptian Firm-Level Data," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10213, The World Bank.
    8. Kaleb Abreha & Raymond Robertson, 2023. "Heterogeneous trade agreements and adverse implications of restrictive rules of origin: Evidence from apparel trade," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(12), pages 3482-3510, December.
    9. Andrew B. Bernard & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2011. "Multiproduct Firms and Trade Liberalization," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(3), pages 1271-1318.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jaime Alfonso Roche Rodriguez & Gladys Lopez-Acevedo & Raymond Robertson & Daniela Ruiz Zárate, 2025. "Exports to jobs: Morocco’s trade patterns and local labor market outcomes," Middle East Development Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 1-34, January.
    2. Kox, Henk L.M., 2022. "A micro-macro model of foreign direct investment: knowledge-based gravity forces, self-selection and third-country effects," MPRA Paper 115542, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Pol Antràs & Davin Chor, 2021. "Global Value Chains," NBER Working Papers 28549, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Inna Čábelková & Luboš Smutka & Svitlana Rotterova & Olesya Zhytna & Vít Kluger & David Mareš, 2022. "The Sustainability of International Trade: The Impact of Ongoing Military Conflicts, Infrastructure, Common Language, and Economic Wellbeing in Post-Soviet Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-14, August.
    5. Doe Fiankor,Dela-Dem & Woubet Kassa & Lartey,Abraham, 2025. "Trade Barriers or Catalysts ? Non-Tariff Measures and Firm-Level Trade Margins," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11024, The World Bank.
    6. Gurdip Bakshi & Xiaohui Gao & George Panayotov, 2021. "A Theory of Dissimilarity Between Stochastic Discount Factors," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(7), pages 4602-4622, July.
    7. Herkenhoff, Philipp & Krautheim, Sebastian & Sauré, Philip, 2024. "A simple model of buyer–seller networks in international trade," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    8. Sebastian Galiani & Luis F. Jaramillo & Mateo Uribe-Castro, 2025. "Free-riding Yankees: Canada and the Panama Canal," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 339-382, September.
    9. Joomi Jun & Takayuki Mizuno, 2022. "Analysis of Ethnic Homophily in International Trade Using Large-Scale Surname Data," The Review of Socionetwork Strategies, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 399-415, October.
    10. Nakhoda, Aadil, 2013. "The impact of the exports of BRIC countries plus Turkey on the exports of Pakistan," MPRA Paper 52477, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Roche Rodriguez, Jaime Alfonso & Robertson, Raymond & Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys & Zárate, Daniela Ruiz, 2023. "Exports to Improve Women's Economic Opportunities in Morocco," IZA Discussion Papers 16546, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Bailey, Michael & Gupta, Abhinav & Hillenbrand, Sebastian & Kuchler, Theresa & Richmond, Robert & Stroebel, Johannes, 2021. "International trade and social connectedness," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    13. Gaduh, Arya & Gračner, Tadeja & Rothenberg, Alexander D., 2022. "Life in the slow lane: Unintended consequences of public transit in Jakarta," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    14. Peterburgsky, Stanley, 2025. "Investment opportunities and labor mobility: Evidence from Europe," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    15. de Lucio, Juan & Mínguez, Raúl & Minondo, Asier & Requena, Francisco, 2024. "The negative impact of disintegration on trade: The case of Brexit," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    16. Cao, Thuy Linh & Hsu, Judy, 2025. "Digitalization and country distance in international trade: An empirical analysis of European countries," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).
    17. Saša Petković & Jelica Rastoka & Dragana Radicic, 2023. "Impact of Innovation and Exports on Productivity: Are There Complementary Effects?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-22, April.
    18. Petrylė Vaiva, 2025. "Development of the Baltic Countries’ Export Network," Zagreb International Review of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 28(2), pages 303-318.
    19. Robertson,Raymond & Vergara Bahena,Mexico Alberto & Lopez-Acevedo,Gladys C., 2022. "Is International Trade Always Beneficial to Labor Markets ? A Case Study from Egypt," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10219, The World Bank.
    20. Dorman,Peter, 2022. "Alligators in the Arctic and How to Avoid Them," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781316516270, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16213. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Mark Fallak (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaalu.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.