Does investing in education and health contribute to regional employment efficiency in Morocco?

Abstract

Investment in education and health is essential for stimulating employment and regional economic growth (Barro and Lee, 2013). However, regional disparities in economic outcomes continue to grow due to poor allocation and deployment of resources in terms of regional human capital development in the long term (Benko, G., and Lipietz, A. 1991). This calls for an analysis of the efficiency of regional social policies to mitigate regional inequalities. In Morocco, the inequitable distribution of social infrastructure, including the number of schools, teachers, as well as the number of doctors, increases regional disparities in employment and economic growth (HCP, 2018). In this context, the present study focuses on the efficiency of education and health policies in Morocco using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. To do this, we used the Regional Human Development Index (HDI) with other economic and social variables such as the student-teacher ratio and the number of doctors per 1000 inhabitants for the year 2022, as inputs to measure the efficiency of these policies in relation to the employment rate and regional GDP per capita. The results show that the Oriental, Fès-Meknès, Rabat-Salé-Kénitra, Casablanca-Settat, and Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra regions are less efficient in terms of the employment rate compared to other regions. However, the Béni Mellal-Khénifra, Darâa-Tafilalet, and Southern regions are the most successful in terms of regional GDP per capita.

 Keywords: Data Envelopment Analysis, employment, GDP per capita, human capital, education, healthcare, region, Morocco

Classification JEL: E24, J24, I1, H52, R1

Paper type: Empirical Research