Food Subsidies: A Case Study of Price Reform in Morocco

摘要

The paper presents an analysis of the costs and benefits of food subsidies in Morocco. It focuses on ways to reduce the financial costs without adversely affecting the standard of living and nutritional status of the poor. Part I describes the organization of the food-subsidy program in Morocco and presents descriptive statistics on food-consumption patterns there. It thus provides background material for Part II, which discusses the methodological issues involved in estimating the welfare and nutritional effects of price and tax reforms in developing countries. A model for estimating price elasticities from cross-sectional data is applied to results from the 1984-85 household consumption survey to quantify the effects of modifying the food-subsidy program in Morocco. Both real income and nutritional effects are used to evaluate the Moroccan program and, by extension, similar ones elsewhere. (Copyright (c) 1989, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank.)