Chauffour, Jean-Pierre

Person:
Chauffour, Jean-Pierre

Middle East and North Africa

Fields of Specialization

Macroeconomics, Economic Integration, Economic Freedom, Human Rights, Trade, Global Economy

Departments

Middle East and North Africa

Last updated February 1, 2023

Biography

Jean-Pierre Chauffour is Lead Country Economist for Morocco and Regional Trade Coordinator in the Middle East and North Africa Region at the World Bank.Since joining the World Bank in 2007, Mr. Chauffour has held various assignments, including Advisor in the International Trade Department and Lead Economist in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network, specializing on issues related to economic competitiveness, regionalism, and economic integration. Prior to joining the World Bank, Mr. Chauffour worked for 15 years at the International Monetary Fund, where he held various positions, including mission chief in the African Department and Head of Office and Representative to the World Trade Organization and United Nations in Geneva. He also spent two years as a Senior Economist in the Directorate for Economic and Financial Affairs at the European Commission. Over his career, Mr. Chauffour has worked and provided economic policy advice in many emerging countries, most extensively in the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe. His main centers of interest are economic development, macroeconomic management, and economic freedom. He started his career as a macroeconomist with the Paris-based Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales.Mr. Chauffour holds master degrees in Economics and Money, Banking, and Finance from the Panthéon-Sorbonne University in Paris. He is the author of The Power of Freedom: Uniting Human Rights and Development (Cato Institute, 2009) and co-editor of Preferential Trade Agreement Policies for Development: a Handbook (World Bank, 2011) and Trade Finance during the Great Trade Collapse (World Bank, 2011). His most recent book on the aftermath of the Arab Spring is entitled From Political to Economic Awakening in the Arab World: the Path of Economic Integration (World Bank, 2013).

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 13

Freedom, Entitlement, and the Path to Development

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-06) Chauffour, Jean-Pierre

Twenty years after the revolutions of Central and Eastern Europe, the Arab Spring is again raising some fundamental questions about the place of freedom and entitlement in development. Depending on the balance between free choices and more coerced decisions, individual opportunities to learn, own, work, save, invest, trade, protect, and so forth could vary greatly across countries and over time. Reviewing the economic performance of more than 100 countries over the past 30 years, new empirical evidence tends to support the idea that economic freedom and civil and political liberties are the root causes of why certain countries achieve and sustain better economic outcomes. In contrast, entitlement rights do not seem to have any significant effects on long-term per capita income, except for a possible negative effect. These results tend to support earlier findings that, beyond core functions of government responsibility (including the protection of liberty itself), the expansion of the state to provide for various entitlements (including so-called economic, social, and cultural rights) may not make people richer in the long run; it may even make them poorer.
Trade Finance during the 2008–9 Trade Collapse : Key Takeaways

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-09-01) Chauffour, Jean-Pierre ; Malouche, Mariem

Trade finance matters for trade, and when financial markets and world trade collapsed three years ago, a shortage in trade finance was hailed as a possible culprit. Because of the potential for global repercussions, world leaders called on the international community to act swiftly to avoid a depression. Governments and international institutions intervened to mitigate the impacts of the crisis. Then the economy bounced back, and trade picked up. But what did we learn from the crisis? In retrospect, what role did trade finance actually play? Did the freeze in the financial markets cause the unprecedented drop in global trade in 2008-9? This note presents evidence on the role of trade finance during 2008-9 and highlights a few takeaways on the data and knowledge gap of trade finance and government interventions during financial crises.
From Political to Economic Awakening in the Arab World : The Path of Economic Integration

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2013-01) Chauffour, Jean-Pierre

The forces unleashed by the Arab political awakening have the power to be transformational. One critical parameter of success will be whether the Arab political awakening is accompanied by a concurrent economic awakening. Such an economic awakening would need to generate quality employment for the millions of young men and women who are looking for jobs and a decent life. In most Arab countries, it has become evident that the development paradigm of the past cannot achieve the qualitative and inclusive growth expected by the population. Economic integration through increased trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) is one key means available to policy makers in the short to medium term to put the Partnership countries on a higher path of sustainable economic growth and in a position to decisively tackle the problem of unemployment, especially youth unemployment. The comprehensiveness of the proposed integration strategy is also designed to facilitate its political feasibility and acceptance. Although any single efficiency-enhancing reform may hurt a particular group or individual, once it is part of a broad and comprehensive reform agenda, the potential negative effects of reform tend to cancel out each other, making everyone a winner.
Trade Finance in Crisis : Should Developing Countries Establish Export Credit Agencies?

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-01) Chauffour, Jean-Pierre ; Saborowski, Christian ; Soylemezoglu, Ahmet I.

New data on export insurance and guarantees suggest that publicly backed export credit agencies have played a role to prevent a complete drying up of trade finance markets during the current financial crisis. Given that export credit agencies are mainly located in advanced and emerging economies, the question arises whether developing countries that are not equipped with these agencies should establish their own agencies to support exporting firms and avoid trade finance shortages in times of crisis. This paper highlights a number of issues requiring attention in the decision whether to establish such specialized financial institutions. It concludes that developing countries should consider export credit agencies only when certain pre-requirements in terms of financial capacity, institutional capability, and governance are met.
Product and Factor Market Distortions: The Case of the Manufacturing Sector in Morocco

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-10) Chauffour, Jean-Pierre ; Diaz-Sanchez, Jose L.

This paper studies the effect of market distortions in the manufacturing sector in Morocco. Recent microdata are used to calculate the extent of resource misallocation associated to these distortions and the potential total factor productivity (TFP) gain resulting from their removal. Market distortions in the manufacturing sector in Morocco are higher compared with developed countries and slightly more important compared with other developing countries, such as China and India. These distortions decreased between 2007 and 2013. Full liberalization would raise TFP by about 84 percent. If distortions are removed to the level of selected developed countries with better resource allocation, the increase in TFP would be of 56 percent. The paper also finds that industries that are more opened to competition (international and domestic) such as machinery and textiles industries present lower levels of market distortions compared with more protected industries with relatively little competition, such as the food industry. Besides, a higher level of TFP can be achieved if more resources are allocated to “young” and “small” firms. The main results of the paper are robust to an alternative estimation that uses a different methodological framework with a less extensive theoretical framework. The paper discusses policies to further limit the extent of product and factor market distortions in Morocco.
Morocco 2040: Emerging by Investing in Intangible Capital

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2018) Chauffour, Jean-Pierre

Morocco 2040: Emerging by Investing in Intangible Capital documents the major economic and social strides made by Morocco over the past 15 years and analyzes the economic conditions for accelerating the pace of economic catch-up by 2040. A virtuous yet realistic scenario suggests that with higher productivity gains Morocco could double its current pace of convergence with Southern European countries. In one generation, Morocco’s standard of living could reach about 45 percent of that of Spain, its immediate Northern neighbor, compared to the current rate of 22 percent. To lay out the possible pathways for Morocco to become the first North African country to attain upper middle income status, the Book then investigates the policies that could bring about such a virtuous scenario of accelerated economic convergence. It shows that sustaining higher productivity gains for 25 years would require greater efforts at building Morocco’s institutional, human and social capital—what is also known as intangible capital. Accumulating such intangible capital necessarily take a number of different forms and the Book proposes a four-pronged approach. First, by strengthening Morocco’s market institutions for a more efficient allocation of capital and labor and international integration. Second, by strengthening Morocco’s public institutions to strengthen the rule of law and justice, modernize the public administration, and improve the quality of public service delivery. Third, by strengthening Morocco’s human capital, especially education, health and the development of early childhood. And fourth, by strengthening Morocco’s social capital through greater gender parity and increased interpersonal trust and civism in society. By placing more of a priority on its intangible capital, Morocco would be advancing a social contract based on the promotion of a more open society. It would be taking a route that is partly new, but which is also the logical outcome of many economic and social diagnoses and pressing calls for change.
Trade Finance during the Great Trade Collapse

(World Bank, 2011-06-22) Chauffour, Jean-Pierre ; Malouche, Mariem

The bursting of the subprime mortgage market in the United States in 2008 and the ensuing global financial crisis were associated with a rapid decline in global trade. The extent of the trade collapse was unprecedented: trade flows fell at a faster rate than had been observed even in the early years of the great depression. G-20 leaders held their first crisis-related summit in November 2008. The goal was to understand the root causes of the global crisis and to reach consensus on actions to address its immediate effects. In the case of trade, a key question concerned the extent to which a drying up of trade finance caused the observed decline in trade flows. This book brings together a range of projects and studies undertaken by development institutions, export credit agencies, private bankers, and academics to shed light on the role of trade finance in the 2008-09 great trade collapse. It provides policy makers, analysts, and other interested parties with analyses and assessments of the role of governments and institutions in restoring trade finance markets. A deeper understanding of the complexity of trade finance remains critical as the world economy recovers and the supply of trade finance improves. The international community continues to know too little about the fragility of low income economies in response to trade finance developments and shocks, as well as about the ability and conditions of access to trade finance by small and medium enterprises and small banks in developing countries. Similarly, there is uncertainty regarding the impact on trade finance of recent changes in the third Basel regulatory framework.
Preferential Trade Agreement Policies for Development : A Handbook

(World Bank, 2011) Chauffour, Jean-Pierre ; Maur, Jean-Christophe

Regional integration is increasingly recognized as a key avenue for promoting economic growth and reducing poverty. Preferential trade agreements (PTAs) have become a central instrument of regional integration in all parts of the world. Beyond market access and the progressive elimination of barriers at the border, PTAs are increasingly being used to address a host of behind-the-border issues, also known as 'deep integration' issues, in order to promote cooperation in the areas of investment, trade facilitation, competition policy, and government procurement, as well as wider social issues related to the regulation of the environment and the protection of labor and human rights. The purpose of this handbook is to explore the various ways in which policy makers and trade negotiators in the developing world can limit the costs and maximize the benefits of their regional integration efforts. PTAs have become a cornerstone of the international trade system. The surge in their number and scope is fast reshaping the architecture of the world trading system and the trading environment of developing countries. The integration of these diverse agreements into a multilateral framework that facilitates the expansion of trade is likely to be one of the main challenges facing the world trading system in the coming years. This handbook offers an introduction to the complex world of modern PTAs. It follows in the steps of earlier, seminal World Bank publications on the economics and practice of PTAs, notably new dimensions in regional integration, trade blocs, and regional integration and development. Supplementing these earlier publications, this volume aims at taking its audience beyond the traditional market access paradigm to consider more broadly and systematically the numerous regulatory policy dimensions that are contained in modern PTAs. In particular, it offers a framework for understanding a number of behind-the-border policies typically covered in PTAs, including labor mobility, investment, trade facilitation, competition, and government procurement, as well as other societal and more normative policies related to intellectual property, environment, labor rights, and human rights. These latter are increasingly among the policies driven by powerful trading blocs as they strive to influence developing countries and the evolution of the global trading system. The handbook is also inspired by the numerous requests received by the World Bank from developing countries or groups of developing countries worldwide for advice on PTAs, including those currently being negotiated, as an aid in understanding the obligations and the possible economic and development implications of various provisions.
Exiting Financial Repression: The Case of Ethiopia

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-12) Chauffour, Jean-Pierre ; Gobezie, Muluneh Ayalew

Ethiopia's framework for managing its monetary and foreign exchange policy has relied on some standard instruments of financial repression. Over time, the framework has led to the buildup of large macro-financial imbalances. Exiting financial repression while maintaining macroeconomic stability would require solid control over the macro-financial flows and good anticipation of the immediate financial effects of the reform. The paper presents and quantifies such a gradual liberalization reform scenario of Ethiopia's monetary and foreign exchange system.
Trade Integration as a Way Forward for the Arab World : A Regional Agenda

( 2011-02-01) Chauffour, Jean-Pierre

The current political turmoil for more open and participative societies in many Arab countries coupled with the emergence of new growth poles around the world could create the conditions for a big push toward greater regional and global trade integration of the Arab world. Further integrating Arab countries among themselves and opening up the region to the rest of the world are two complementary avenues to improve market access, promote behind-the-border regulatory reforms, facilitate cooperation on regional public goods, foster the emergence of an "Arab factory" through regional supply chains and productions networks, and eventually create the conditions for more and better paid jobs for the growing Arab workforce. A more ambitious trade agenda in the context of the Pan-Arab Free Trade Area would be a good place to start. Although difficult and challenging, and requiring a good dosage of flexibility and variable geometry, such an agenda would consist of (1) completing the free movement of goods within the Pan-Arab Free Trade Area, notably through the elimination of unnecessary non-tariff barriers; (2) implementing a regional initiative to liberalize services trade, including identifying a number of pilot service sectors for early regional liberalization; and (3) strengthening the rules and discipline applicable to regional trade and other policies of common interest.