Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T21:37:55.206Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Taming corruption: rent potential, collective action, and taxability in Morocco

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Cristina Corduneanu-Huci
Cristina Corduneanu-Huci*
Affiliation:
School of Public Policy, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
*
Corresponding author: Cristina Corduneanu-Huci, Tel.: +36.1.327.3000|ext.2365, e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Why do autocratic regimes contain bureaucratic corruption in some economic sectors but allow it in other areas? This paper examines variations in governance outcomes and perceptions across firms in Morocco based on a survey of 659 businesses. Three factors explain better public services and control of corruption: the magnitude of potential rents that firms can exchange with the administration, the collective action capacity of the sector vis-à-vis the executive, and the taxability of the industry. Firms in sectors with low rent potential are more likely to coordinate, claim, and obtain better governance in exchange for taxes, whereas high-rent companies find it difficult to sustain effective pro-governance collective action. The findings shed light on business–state relations in autocratic political regimes that have to balance revenue raising goals, policy commitments to selected sectors, and incentives for grand corruption.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business and Politics , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , October 2016 , pp. 297 - 335
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akesbi, Najib. 2008. “Une Fiscalité Complexe, Incohérente et Injuste. Études et Sondages.” La Revue Economia 3:73–92.Google Scholar
ANRT. 2007. Rapport Annuel. Rabat, Morocco.Google Scholar
Barber, Benjamin, Pierskalla, Jan, and Weschle, Simon. 2014. “Lobbying and the Collective Action Problem: Comparative Evidence from Enterprise Surveys.” Business and Politics 16 (2): 221–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellin, Eva R. 2000. “Contingent Democrats: Industrialists, Labor, and Democratization in Late-Developing Countries.” World Politics 52 (2): 175–205.Google Scholar
Bräutigam, Deborah, Fjeldstad, Ole H., and Moore, Mick, eds. 2008. Capacity and Consent: Taxation and State Building in Developing Countries. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brouksy, Omar, and Monjib, Maati. 2009. “Au Royaume de la Rente.” Le Journal Hebdomadaire 388:18–23.Google Scholar
Campos, Nauro, and Giovannoni, Francesco. 2007. “Lobbying, Corruption and Political Influence.” Public Choice 131 (1–2): 1–21.Google Scholar
Cammett, Melani. 2007a. Globalization and Business Politics in Arab North Africa. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cammett, Melani. 2007b. “Business-Government Relations and Industrial Change: The Politics of Upgrading in Morocco and Tunisia.” World Development 35 (11): 1889–1903.Google Scholar
Catusse, Myriam. 2008. Le Temps Des Entrepreneurs? Politique et Transformations Du Capitalisme Au Maroc. Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose.Google Scholar
Cheibub, Jose A. 1998. “Political Regimes and the Extractive Capacity of Governments: Taxation in Democracies and Dictatorships.” World Politics 50 (3): 349–376.Google Scholar
Conseil économique et social (CES). 2012. “Le Système Fiscal Marocain, Cohésion Économique et Développement Social.” Rapport CES, Rabat, Morocco: 1–171.Google Scholar
Cour des Comptes. 2011. “Direction Générale des Impôts.” Rapport Annuel de la Cour des Comptes. Rabat: 19–46.Google Scholar
Damodaran, Aswath. Damodaran Online Dataset. Available at: http://people.stern.nyu.edu/adamodar/New_Home_Page/datacurrent.html. Accessed January 30, 2015.Google Scholar
Doner, Richard, and Ross Schneider, Ben. 2000. “Business Associations and Economic Development: Why Some Associations Contribute More Than Others.” Business and Politics 2 (3): 261–288.Google Scholar
Duvanova, Dinissa. 2007. “Bureaucratic Corruption and Collective Action: Business Associations in the Post-Communist Transition.” Comparative Politics 37 (4): 441–461.Google Scholar
Duvanova, Dinissa. 2013. Building Business in Post-Communist Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia: Collective Goods, Selective Incentives, and Predatory States. Cambrigde, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gehlbach, Scott. 2008. Representation through Taxation: The Political Economy of Postcommunism. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
0 Gehlbach, Scott and Keefer, Philip. 2011. “Investment without Democracy: Ruling-Party Institutionalization and Credible Commitment in Autocracies.” Journal of Comparative Economics 39 (2): 123–39.Google Scholar
Haber, Stephen, Razo, Armando, and Maurer, Noel. 2003. The Politics of Property Rights. Political Instability, Credible Commitments, and Economic Growth in Mexico, 1876–1929. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hibou, Béatrice. 2004. “Fiscal Trajectories in Morocco and Tunisia.” In Networks of Privilege in the Middle East: The Politics of Economic Reform Revisited, edited by Heydemann, Steven, 201–222. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Imam, F. Patrick, and Jacobs Davina, A. 2007. “Effect of Corruption on Tax Revenues in the Middle East.” Working Paper 07/270. Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund.Google Scholar
Johnson, Simon, McMillan, John, and Woodruff, Christopher. 2002. “Courts and Relational Contracts.” Journal of Law, Economics and Organization 18 (1): 221–277.Google Scholar
Keefer, Philip. 2005. “What Does Political Economy Tell Us About Economic Development and Viceversa?” Annual Review of Political Science 7:247–72.Google Scholar
Lasswell, Harold. 1936. Politics: Who Gets What, When, and How. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Leveau, Rémy. 1985. Le Fellah Marocain, Défenseur du Trône. Paris: Presses de la Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques.Google Scholar
Levi, Margaret. 1988. Of Rule and Revenue. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Lieberman, Evan S. 2002. “Taxation Data as Indicators of State-Society Relations: Possibilities and Pitfalls in Cross-National Research.” Studies in Comparative International Development 36 (4): 89–115.Google Scholar
Mazaheri, Nimah. 2013. “The Saudi Monarchy and Economic Familism in an Era of Business Environment Reforms.” Business and Politics 15 (3): 295–321.Google Scholar
McMenamin, Iain. 2002. “Polish Business Associations: Flattened Civil Society or Super Lobbies?” Business and Politics 44 (3): 301–317.Google Scholar
Ministère de l'Economie et des Finances. 2015. Tableau de Bord Sectoriel. Rabat, Morocco.Google Scholar
Olson, Mancur. 1965. The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Olson, Mancur. 1982. The Rise and Decline of Nations: Economic Growth, Stagflation and Social Rigidities. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Olson, Mancur. 1993. “Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development.” The American Political Science Review 87 (3): 567–576.Google Scholar
Olson, Mancur. 2000. Power and Prosperity: Outgrowing Communist and Capitalist Dictatorships. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Orenstein, Mitchell, and Desai, Raj. 1997. “State Power and Interest Group Formation: The Business Lobby in the Czech Republic.” Problems of Post-Communism 44 (6): 43–52.Google Scholar
Pyle, William. 2005. “Contractual Disputes and the Channels for Inter-firm Communication.” Journal of Law, Economics and Organization 21 (2): 547–575.Google Scholar
Pyle, William. 2006. “Collective Action and Post-Communist Enterprise: The Economic Logic of Russia's Business Associations.” Europe-Asia Studies 58 (4): 491–521.Google Scholar
Renaud, Pascal. 2006. “Internet au Maghreb et au Machrek. De la «Recherche et Développement» à l'Appropriation Sociale.” In Le Maghreb dans L’Économie Numerique, edited by Mezouaghi, Mihoub. Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose.Google Scholar
Steinberg, David A., and Victor, C. Shih. 2012. “Interest Group Influence in Authoritarian States. The Political Determinants of Chinese Exchange Rate Policy.” Comparative Political Studies 45 (11): 1405–1434.Google Scholar
Timmons, Jeffrey F. 2005. “The Fiscal Contract: States, Taxes, and Public Services.” World Politics 57 (4): 530–567.Google Scholar
Transparency Maroc (TAM). 2009. “La Transparence dans la Gestion des Recettes Fiscales.” Transparency News 8:6–16.Google Scholar
Truex, Rory. 2014. “The Returns to Office in a ‘Rubber Stamp’ Parliament.” American Political Science Review 108 (2): 235–251.Google Scholar
Waterbury, John. 1970. The Commander of the Faithful: The Moroccan Political Elite – A Study in Segmented Politics. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Waterbury, John. 1973. “Endemic and Planned Corruption in a Monarchical Regime.” World Politics 25 (4): 533–555.Google Scholar
Woodruff, Christopher. 1998. “Contract Enforcement and Trade Liberalization in Mexico's Footwear Industry.” World Development 26 (6): 979–991.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2007. Enterprise Survey (Morocco) Database. Washington, DC.Google Scholar