IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ocp/pbecon/p45_25.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Regional Inequality in a Growing Economy: The Case of Morocco

Author

Listed:
  • Mahmoud Arbouch Eduardo Amaral Haddad
  • Eduardo Amaral Haddad

Abstract

AMorocco’s strong macroeconomic performance over the past two decades—anchored in infrastructure modernization, industrial diversification, and renewable energy leadership—has positioned it as a success story in the Global South. Yet these achievements mask persistent regional disparities that undermine inclusive development. Coastal regions such as Casablanca-Settat and Tangier-Tétouan-Al Hoceima dominate economic activity, while hinterland and southern provinces face structural disadvantages in employment, connectivity, and public services. Drawing on the Williamson hypothesis of an inverted U-shaped relationship between growth and inequality, this policy brief situates Morocco on the upward slope of rising regional disparities. It examines the historical roots of spatial imbalance, the limits of decentralization, and the structural concentration of growth in metropolitan hubs. While recent reforms, including the New Development Model (2021) and the Investment Charter (2022), aim to foster territorial equity, sustained progress will require a shift toward territorially sensitive policies that empower regions to drive more balanced and inclusive national development.

Suggested Citation

  • Mahmoud Arbouch Eduardo Amaral Haddad & Eduardo Amaral Haddad, 2025. "Regional Inequality in a Growing Economy: The Case of Morocco," Policy briefs on Economic Trends and Policies 2456, Policy Center for the New South.
    • Handle: RePEc:ocp:pbecon:p45_25
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.policycenter.ma/sites/default/files/2025-09/PB_45-25_Mahmoud%20Arbouch%20and%20Eduardo%20A.%20Haddad.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lessmann, Christian, 2014. "Spatial inequality and development — Is there an inverted-U relationship?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 35-51.
    2. Uri Dadush & Hamza Saoudi, 2019. "Inequality in Morocco: An International Perspective," Research papers & Policy papers on Economic Trends and Policies 1912, Policy Center for the New South.
    3. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma, 2021. "Complementary interregional linkages and Smart Specialisation: an empirical study on European regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(6), pages 1059-1070, June.
    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. Cuesta, Lizeth & Ruiz, Yomara, 2021. "Efecto de la globalización sobre la desigualdad. Un estudio global para 104 países usando regresiones cuantílicas [Effect of globalization on inequality. A global study for 104 countries using quan," MPRA Paper 111022, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Balland, Pierre-Alexandre & Boschma, Ron, 2022. "Do scientific capabilities in specific domains matter for technological diversification in European regions?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(10).
    3. Zhang, Bingqi & Nozawa, Wataru & Managi, Shunsuke, 2021. "Spatial inequality of inclusive wealth in China and Japan," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 164-179.
    4. Patricia Peñalosa & Carolina Castaldi, 2024. "Horizon Europe: a green window of opportunity for european peripheral regions?," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 44(3), pages 251-285, September.
    5. Ron Boschma, 2021. "Designing Smart Specialization Policy: relatedness, unrelatedness, or what?," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2128, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Sep 2021.
    6. Bauluz, Luis & Bukowski, Pawel & Fransham, Mark & Lee, Annie Seong & López Forero, Margarita & Novokmet, Filip & Breau, Sébastien & Lee, Neil & Malgouyres, Clément & Schularick, Moritz & Verdugo, Greg, 2023. "Spatial wage inequality in North America and Western Europe: changes between and within local labour markets 1975-2019," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121290, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Suarsana, Laura & Schneider, Tina & Warsewa, Günter, 2023. "Do regional innovation strategies meet societal challenges? A comparative analysis across regions in Belgium, Germany, Netherlands and Finland," Schriftenreihe Institut Arbeit und Wirtschaft 40/2023, Institut Arbeit und Wirtschaft (IAW), Universität Bremen und Arbeitnehmerkammer Bremen.
    8. Evgeniy Kutsenko & Sabyasachi Tripathi & Kirill Tyurchev, 2023. "Does complementarity matter for the emergence of new specialization industries in the regions of Russia?," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(9), pages 2126-2155, December.
    9. Roberto Ezcurra & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2017. "Does ethnic segregation matter for spatial inequality?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(6), pages 1149-1178.
    10. Sébastien Breau & Annie Lee, 2023. "The evolution of the Kuznets curve in Canada," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 102(4), pages 709-735, August.
    11. Julia Bachtrögler-Unger & Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma & Thomas Schwab, 2023. "Technological Capabilities and the Twin Transition in Europe. Opportunities for Regional Collaboration and Economic Cohesion," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 70743.
    12. Panagiotis Artelaris, 2021. "Regional economic growth and inequality in Greece," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(1), pages 141-158, February.
    13. Lessmann, Christian & Seidel, André, 2017. "Regional inequality, convergence, and its determinants – A view from outer space," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 110-132.
    14. Weidenfeld, Adi & Clifton, Nick, 2025. "Investigating the systemic nature of knowledge networks of regions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    15. Nguena, Christian-Lambert & Kodila-Tedika, Oasis, 2020. "On Recessive and Expansionary Impact of Financial Development: Empirical Evidence," GLO Discussion Paper Series 555, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    16. Bo Tan & Hongwei Wang & Chen Ma & Xiaoqin Wang & Jing Zhou, 2021. "Spatial and Temporal Measurement of the Interaction between the County Economy and Rural Transformation in Xinjiang, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-17, May.
    17. Eugenio Jose Silva Bitti & Muriel Fadairo & Cintya Lanchimba & Vivian-Lara Silva, 2016. "Spatial strategies in Brazilian Franchising; Behavior categories and Performance Outcome," Working Papers halshs-01292057, HAL.
    18. Stefano Basilico & Holger Graf, 2023. "Bridging technologies in the regional knowledge space: measurement and evolution," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 1085-1124, September.
    19. Anne Otto & Sebastian Losacker & Hendrik Hansmeier, 2025. "Relatedness, complexity, and regional development paths in Germany: a sequencing approach," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 74(2), pages 1-26, June.
    20. Carolina Jimenez & Luis Moncada & Diego Ochoa-Jimenez & Wilman-Santiago Ochoa-Moreno, 2019. "Kuznets Environmental Curve for Ecuador: An Analysis of the Impact of Economic Growth on the Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-11, October.

    More about this item

    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:ocp:pbecon:p45_25. 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: Policy Center for the New South's Customer service The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Policy Center for the New South's Customer service to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ocppcma.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.