Christian Morrisson

Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University | UNiVPARIS1 · Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne (CES)

A comparison of the three Maghrebi countries' perfomances down to 2016. The book offers an analysis of growth factors . Particular attention is given to the role of state, the financing of development and external relations (economic, technical, cultural) . A study of income distribution shows a decrease of inequality and a diminution of poverty si...

This article deals with the many long time series databases that have been built over the last two decades. These series cover more than a hundred years span and allow comparing the situation of present days developed countries at a time when they were developing countries with that of present days developing countries. Longitudinal econometric ana...

Long-Term Series of Data and Development Economics This article deals with the many long time series databases that have been built over the last two decades. These series cover more than a hundred years span and allow comparing the situation of present days developed countries at a time when they were developing countries with that of present days...

This article is based on a consistent data base for GDP per capita and for population in 32 countries or group of countries from 1700 to 2030. World inequality, that had been increasing since 1700, decreased between 1992 and 2008. An increase from nowadays to 2030 is unlikely. Since 1992, the number of poors in the world has decreased for the first...

This study addresses gender differentials in labour market outcomes in developing countries. There is emerging evidence that even though women in developing countries increasingly enter the labour force, they often end up in jobs with low pay, low security and limited social mobility. We find that in addition to well-established factors determining...

This paper describes the long-term global trends in education inequality since 1870. Inequality in years of schooling is shown to have mechanically decreased along with the decline in the share of illiterate people. In search of a monetary equivalent of years of schooling, we turn to Mincer (1974) human capital ineq uality. Within countries, we fin...

La FERDI est une fondation reconnue d'utilité publique. Elle met en oeuvre avec la Fonddri l'Initiative pour le Développement et la Gouvernance Mondiale (IDGM). Elle met en oeuvre avec l'Iddri et le Cerdi le projet IDGM+ « Laboratoire d'excellence ».

This paper describes global trends in average educational attainment and in education inequality since 1870, improving the database released by Morrisson-Murtin (2009). Inequality in years of schooling is found to be rapidly decreasing, a direct consequence of the decline in illiteracy. Then, we turn to human capital inequality, and focus, among se...

This paper presents a historical database on educational attainment in 74 countries for the period 1870-2010, using perpetual inventory methods before 1960 and then the Cohen and Soto database. We use a measurement error framework to merge the two databases, while correcting for a systematic measurement bias in Cohen and Soto's study linked to diff...

The Development Centre of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Gender, Institutions and Development Data Base (GID-DB) is a new cross-country research tool with comprehensive measures of gender equality. It improves upon existing sources because it is the only data base on gender that systematically incorporates indicators o...

Cet article présente la première estimation de la distribution mondiale du nombre d’années d’éducation par individu, en tenant compte des inégalités à l’intérieur des pays et entre pays. Les estimations concernent cette distribution de 1870 à 2000. La distribution en 1870 était très inégale parce que 75% de la population mondiale était illettrée. L...

This article provides, for the first time, an estimate of the world distribution of individual years of schooling, taking into account inequalities within and between countries. Our estimates concern this distribution from 1870 to 2000. In 1870, inequality was very high, since 75 % of the world population was illiterate. The fifth-quintile share of...

This article provides, for the first time, an estimate of the world distribution of individual years of schooling, taking into account inequalities within and between countries. Our estimates concern this distribution from 1870 to 2000. In 1870, inequality wasvery high, since 75% of the world population was illiterate. The fifth- quintile share of...

This paper presents a new dataset on educational attainment (primary, sec-ondary and tertiary schooling) at the world level since 1870. Inequality in years of schooling is found to be rapidly decreasing, but we show that this result is com-pletely driven by the decline in illiteracy. Then, we turn to inequality in human capital and focus on a Mince...

This paper presents a new dataset on educational attainment (primary, secondary and tertiary schooling) at the world level since 1870. Inequality in years of schooling is found to be rapidly decreasing, but we show that this result is completely driven by the decline in illiteracy. Then, we turn to inequality in human capital and focus on a Minceri...

France presents an unusual case because, unlike several other European countries, there are no estimates of the income distribution for the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This is a serious deficiency because it limits the ability to understand how an important dimension of the socio-economic fabric changed during the years preceding and coinc...

Efforts to establish, test and analyse hypotheses regarding cross-country variations in women’s economic status are hampered by the lack of a readily accessible and easily used information resource on the various dimensions of gender inequality. Addressing this gap, this paper introduces the Gender, Institutions and Development database (GID) of th...

JEL classification: D31, E27, F02, N00, O40.

This article shows that three elements conflated in England from 1650 to 1750: a significant growth of real wages, an increased productivity in agriculture and a check of population increase. No other country before had managed to combine these three elements which played a key role in the take off of English economy before 1750-1800 and the Indust...

This paper investigates how information affect voting behaviour. There exist a large literature suggesting that uninformed voters can use informational shortcuts or cues to vote as if they were informed. This paper tests this hypothesis using unique Swedish individual survey data on the preferences of both politicians and voters. I find that uninfo...

La note évalue la contribution de la recherche menée en France à l'économie du développement. Elle propose également quelques réflexions concernant les atouts et les faiblesses de ce champ d'étude en s'appuyant sur des critères objectifs (la publication d'articles de recherche et les citations de travaux).

While the overall picture for gender equality is still gloomy, recent changes in family institutions in some countries provide an enlightening example. Developing countries are starting to reform cultural barriers to gender equality that limit their growth prospects. Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and some states of India are some examples of countries th...

Si les perspectives générales de l’égalité des genres restent sombres, les récents changements survenus au sein des institutions familiales de certains pays offrent un exemple déterminant.

This paper investigates how information affect voting behaviour. There exist a large literature suggesting that uninformed voters can use informational shortcuts or cues to vote as if they were informed. This paper tests this hypothesis using unique Swedish individual survey data on the preferences of both politicians and voters. I find that uninfo...

Incl. bibl.

Le cadre institutionnel d’un pays joue un rôle déterminant pour les femmes qui y vivent. Ce document examine les cas de quatre pays, l’Inde, le Kenya, le Soudan et la Tunisie. Dans chaque étude de cas nous avons analysé le statut des femmes ainsi que les réformes qui ont été réalisées pour l’améliorer. Des comparaisons entre ces quatre pays ont mis...

Cet article se propose de montrer les relations existant entre pauvrete, inegalites et mondialisation en retracant l'evolution respective de la pauvrete et des inegalites depuis le 19 e siecle. Son tour d'horizon procede en deux temps : une premiere phase de 1820 a 1950 ; une seconde phase de 1950 a nos jours

. The poor are the principal beneficiaries of universal access to social services. . Instead of thinking in terms of supply, we need to meet the demand for services from the poor. . Policies should be judged by their outcomes rather than by the amount of resources employed. . Coherent, long-term and participatory policy are needed to escape from th...

. Les pauvres sont les premiers bénéficiaires de la généralisation des services sociaux. . Il faut satisfaire la demande de services des pauvres et non raisonner en termes d’offre. . Les politiques doivent être jugées sur les résultats obtenus plutôt que sur les moyens mis en œuvre. . Pour interrompre la reproduction de la pauvreté, les interventio...

This paper investigates the distribution of well being among world citizens during the last two centuries. The estimates show that inequality of world distribution of income worsened from the beginning of the 19th century to World War II and after that seems to have stabilized or to have grown more slowly. In the early 19th century most inequality...

Incl. bibl.

The evolution of income distribution over two centuries is an attractive topic because it allows one to test the inverse U-curve hypothesis using long series instead of cross-section data. In Section 1 the distribution trends in countries where global data are available, is considered, that is in four Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands, the Ge...

Ce document technique a utilisé toutes les données disponibles sur la malnutrition des enfants dans les Demographic and Health Surveys de 20 pays. Il présente donc l’analyse la plus complète des facteurs de malnutrition en Afrique. Cette analyse suit l’approche standard qui fait dépendre l’indicateur de santé de l’enfant, en l’occurrence la taille,...

Cet article dresse le bilan des articles d'histoire economique parus dans la Revue economique depuis cinquante ans, a partir d'un comptage des articles par decennie et de leur classement selon la periode et le pays etudies, selon les themes consideres, selon les techniques statistiques utilisees et selon le recours a la theorie, a la modelisation e...

Cet article a pour objet l'évolution des inégalités de revenu en France depuis le début du XVIIIe siècle. À partir des rôles de la capitation, d'informations sur les revenus et les effectifs des principaux groupes, on a estimé les inégalités en 1788 et montré qu'elles sont comparables à celles en 1715. D'après les données sur les revenus par groupe...

Résumé Cet article a pour objet l'évolution des inégalités de revenu en France depuis le début du XVIIIe siècle. À partir des rôles de la capitation, d'informations sur les revenus et les effectifs des principaux groupes, on a estimé les inégalités en 1788 et montré qu'elles sont comparables à celles en 1715. D'après les données sur les revenus par...

Income inequalities in France from the early eighteenth century to 1985. This study analyzes the evolution of the inequality in the income distribution in France from the beginning of the XVIIIe century to the present. Using the roles of the capitation tax and estimates of the number of persons in various socio-professional groups and their respec...

Ce document technique présente la première estimation de la pauvreté en Afrique subsaharienne fondée sur les données anthropométriques collectées dans 19 pays par les Demographic and Health Surveys. La pauvreté étudiée est la pauvreté absolue (les deux autres concepts, de pauvreté relative et de pauvreté subjective, ont été exclus), qui est définie...

This paper suggests major factors in country differences in income distribution largely overlooked in the literature on inequality and development. They concern the extent of economic dualism, as proxied macroeconomically by the relative labour productivity of non-agricultural sectors vs. agriculture and related variables. The result is robust with...

It is now widely accepted that stabilization plans cannot be drawn up without taking potential political reactions into consideration. We develop a simple macroeconometric model, which describes interactions between economic and political variables, using data from twenty-three African countries for the 1980s. The results clearly suggest that there...

Tunisia offers an original example in the Arab world. Despite a number of handicaps such as a rather small territory, which is partly semi-desert and has few natural resources, in 30 years the country has managed to increase the population’s standard of living by 160 per cent, greatly slowed population growth, eliminated extreme poverty and created...

It is now widely accepted that stabilisation plans cannot be drawn up without taking potential reactions into consideration. We develop a simple macro-econometric model, which describes interactions between economic and political variables, using data from 23 African countries for the 1980's. The results clearly suggest that there are important lin...

Most economists consider the informal sector to exist as an homogeneous aggregate of small production units and believe it to be characterized by small size of business, legal informality and a low level of endowment in human and physical capital. Relying on the results of surveys carried in seven countries and concerning 2,200 micro-entreprises, w...

Different analysts have used the term “informal sector” to mean different things. A data set with 2,200 small enterprises chosen using random procedures in seven countries makes it possible to test the relationships between different measures. The analysis finds only limited parallels between definitions based on size, on registration, on conformit...

Most economists consider the informal sector to exist as an homogeneous aggregate of small production units and believe it to be characterized by small size of business, legal informality and a low level of endownment in human and physical capital. Relying on the results of surveys carried in seven countries and concerning 2,200 micro-enterprises,...

Incl. bibl.

• Les risques politiques de la stabilisation dépendent des mesures prises. • Un bon calendrier de mise en œuvre, une constitution adaptée et un affaiblissement des corporatismes réduisent les risques. • L'ajustement structurel présente beaucoup moins de risques, exception faite de la réforme des entreprises publiques. • Une nouvelle conception de l...

In the history of adjustment, concern with the political aspects appeared only after long reflection. At the beginning of the 1980s, given the urgency of the financial crises afflicting many developing countries, the only thought was to restore macroeconomic balances, particularly the balance of payments, by means of short-term measures — budget cu...

Incl. bibliographical references

Many developing countries undertook severe adjustment programmes in the 1980s, on their own initiative or under pressure from the international organisations. The technical or distributional aspects of these programmes have been extensively discussed. By contrast, their political consequences have seldom been systematically studied.

Il est d�sormais admis qu'on ne peut pas mettre au point un programme d'ajustement sans tenir compte des r�actions politiques qu'il peut susciter. Les exp�riences malheureuses de pays o� les troubles provoqu�s par des mesures de stabilisation ont entra�n� des dizaines, voire des centaines de morts, en ont convaincu tous les responsables politiques....

• L'ajustement n'est pas synonyme 'aggravation de la pauvreté • Ajuster avant la crise permet d'en réduire les coûts sociaux • Le refus d'ajuster et la réduction forcée des importations conduisent à un sousdéveloppement autocentré beaucoup plus coûteux socialement que l'ajustement • Le choix de mesures macroéconomiques pour stabiliser n'est pas neu...

Incl. résumé, notes et références bibliographiques

Ce document technique pr�sente les r�sultats d'une enqu�te sur l'impact des r�glementations juridiques et fiscales sur les micro-entreprises, assimil�es ici au secteur informel, en Tunisie. Son objectif est de d�terminer dans quelle mesure les petits entrepreneurs respectent les r�glementations en vigueur, et quelles cons�quences ces derni�res ont...

• Adjustment does not necessarily increase poverty • Adjusting before a crisis reduces social costs • Refusal to adjust and the suspension of imports leads to self-centred underdevelopment, which is socially much more costly • The choice of macroeconomic stabilisation measures is important: the same result can be obtained with higher or lower socia...

This paper draws lessons from country studies of the effects of adjustment policies on the distribution of income in Chile, Côte d'Ivoire, Ecuador, Malaysia, Morocco, and Indonesia. Following an analytical discussion of the issues that must be confronted in the design of adjustment programs with a poverty focus, the paper synthesizes the main concl...

[fre] L'offre de cultures commerciales en économie de pénurie. . Le rôle stimulant de l'offre d'intrants et de biens de consommation sur la production agricole est désormais reconnu. Cet article présente un modèle qui considère les trois situations possibles : celle de rationnement, celle de marché parallèle et celle où les biens sont disponibles s...

Although fiscal and balance-of-payments problems began in 1976, Morocco did not introduce its stabilization program until 1983. The combination of a short-term stabilization program (devaluations, reductions in public investment, and slower growth in domestic credit and government employment) and medium-term structural adjustment measures (liberali...

The present paper examines the effects that the structural adjustment process in Morocco had - or might have had if fully implemented - on the rural sector and its relationship with the rest of the economy. This is done through a counterfactual analysis based on a general equilibrium approach. We focus on the more "structural', or microeconomic-ori...

Incl. résumé, notes et références bibliographiques

The Foreign Exchange Shortage and Commercial Agriculture Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa, by Jean-Claude Berthélemy, Christian Morrisson. This article provides a simple macroeconomic analysis offering an explanation for the self-maintained foreign exchange shortage in African countries whose mainstay is agriculture. The initial rationing of foreign...

Incl. bibliographical notes and references

This paper analyses cross-sectional evidence on income inequality in developing countries within a consistent theoretical framework where the major explanatory variables are factor endowments, their ownership structure and foreign trade distortions. The resulting explanation of cross-country differences in income distribution is considerably better...

The concept of the agricultural surplus has occupied a central place in the history of economic thought and has been used in a variety of different senses. The major objective of this paper is to offer a rigorous definition of the agricultural surplus based on the Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) framework. A SAM for Indonesia distinguishing between...

This paper provides a synthesis of a large-scale OECD Development Center project on the effects of institutions on agricultural performance, based on a comparative analysis of six individual case studies of poor developing countries (Mali, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Tanzania, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) over the period 1960–1985. A number of policy inferences...

We first update our 1983 work by extending the period of analysis up to 1986, thus including the most severe and long-lasting world economic crisis since the Second World War. Second, we investigate the relative roles of economic and demographic factors in explaining the evolution of the world income distribution. Unlike what might be expected, the...

[fre] Cet article analyse l'une des causes la crise économique dans région : l'effondrement de l'agriculture commerciale suite à des de politique économique, qui provoqué une pénurie de manufacturés dans les zones rurales. Dans ce cas l'effet d'une hausse prix agricoles sur la production a caractère incertain, seul l'approvisionnement en biens perm...

Ce document pr�sente la premi�re application du mod�le macro-micro expos� dans le document technique no 1 "Macroeconomic Adjustment and Income Distribution. A macro-micro Simulation Model". Ce mod�le est appliqu� sur la p�riode 1980-86 au Maroc qui a engag� un programme de stabilisation en 1983. On a d'abord �tudi� les effets imm�diats de chaque m...

[eng] Jean Lhomme, from economy to history (1901-1987) . . This article recalls the scientific itinerary of Jean Lhomme, one of the founder of Revue Economique and its former president. In its early phase, Jean Lhomme's work was devoted to analyses of economie and social policies and particularity to experiments in planned economies (Germany, USSR,...