University of Duisburg-Essen
3rd
Introduction to Computable
General Equilibrium Modeling
with GAMS and
MPSGE
Objective:
The seminar will provide an introduction to general
economic equilibrium models and their construction using GAMS and MPSGE.
No
previous knowledge of GE modeling is assumed. The intended audience is economists and students who
want to do policy analysis with real data and economists who are more interested
in using numerical modeling for simulation analysis of theoretical models. The
seminar is taught in English.
The teaching technique
consists of three steps repeated each half day: (1) a brief lecture, (2)
examination and discussion of techniques via the use of simple template models,
(3) exercises for the participants. Instructors will be available in the seminar
room for individual consultation beginning at 8am each day, and the course will
then run from 9am to 4pm with a one hour break at lunch.
Instructors:
David Tarr
The
World Bank,
Sergey Paltsev
Massachusetts Institute of
Volker Clausen
University of Duisburg-Essen,
Germany
Course
Coordinator:
Sebastian Rausch
Workshop Topics and Schedule:
Day 1: October 8, Monday
Morning Session: Introduction to a computable general equilibrium (CGE) approach (Tarr).
Afternoon Session: Introduction to GAMS and MPSGE (Paltsev)
Day 2: October 9, Tuesday
Morning Session: CGE Models of Free Trade Areas and Multilateral trade liberalization (Tarr)
Afternoon Session: Structure of CGE models in MPSGE (Paltsev)
Day 3: October 10, Wednesday
Morning Session: Trade and Poverty (Tarr)
Afternoon Session: Building Blocks of Applied Economic Equilibrium Analysis: Input-Output Tables (Paltsev)
Day 4: October 11, Thursday
Morning
Session: Models of accession to the World Trade
Organization. Application to
Afternoon Session: From Input-Output Tables to a CGE Model (Paltsev)
Day 5: October 12, Friday
Morning Session: Building a Multi-Sector Model (Paltsev)
Afternoon Session: An Introduction to Dynamic GE Modeling (Clausen)
For
further information on course content, please contact Sergey
Paltsev.
The instructors:
David Tarr is a Consultant in the Development Research Group of
the World Bank, where he has been working for the past 19 years. Dr. Tarr has a
Ph.D. in Economics from
Sergey Paltsev is a Research Scientist in Economics at the Joint
Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, where he has been working for the past 5 years. Dr. Paltsev holds a
Ph.D. in Economics from the
Volker Clausen is Professor of International Economics, University of
Duisburg-Essen, Campus Essen since 2001. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the
University of Kiel, Germany, and a Master of Science in Economics from the
London School of Economics and Political Science. Prior to this he worked at the
Universities of Kiel and
Note the following disclaimer and limited liability: The
program and the list of instructors are confirmed and correct at the time of
publication. In case of any serious circumstances or acts of nature beyond
control of the organizers, such as for example illness, death, cancellation of
flights etc., the organizers aim for an adequate substitution. In the very
unlikely, but still possible case, the maximum liability of the organizers is
limited to the tuition. The organizers do not cover any other costs of the
participants, such as travel bookings, visa fees etc.
The fee for participating in
the training workshop is 2,500 Euro and includes lectures, course material and
lunches. Participants are required to bring a laptop with a CD-ROM
drive.
Academic participants from
accredited universities or research institutions will be admitted on a
space-available basis for a discount of 20%. Graduate students from accredited
academic institutions are likewise admitted on a space-available basis for a
discount of 50%. Please fax a copy of your student ID to get the discount. There
will be a limited number of scholarships (excluding travel and subsistence
expenses) that have been set aside for talented participants from developing
countries. Deadline for the application for a scholarship is May 18, 2007.
Preference will be given to applicants who have documented previous experience
in general equilibrium modeling with GAMS. To apply for a scholarship, send your
CV and a research paper via email to Sebastian
Rausch. A decision on the allocation
of scholarships will be made until June 1, 2007, in order to allow for an early
arrangement of flights, visa etc.
To
register by phone, fax, or e-mail, contact:
The
registration deadline is September 1, 2007. The maximum number of participants
is restricted to 16.
Slots
are guaranteed only upon full payment of fees (by check or credit card) through
the GAMS Course Coordinator. Cancellations will be fully
refunded if made prior to September 1, 2007. No refunds will be made after the
registration deadline.
Workshop participants must make their
own arrangements for accomodation. The workshop will be held at
the Department of Economics at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Campus Essen: University of
Duisburg-Essen, Campus
Information on nearby hotels
and links to maps of
Welcome Hotel(****),
Schützenbahn 58, 45127 Essen, T:
+49 201 1779-0, F: +49 201 17 79-199, http://www.welcome-to-essen.de/, 95€ per
night.
Slightly
further away and somewhat less expensive:
Ibis
Hotel
A number
of rooms has been reserved for course participants until September, 1, 2007.
Please quote GAMS when making a reservation.
No
previous knowledge of GE modeling is assumed. We recommend, however, that
minimal preparation for this course would be rigorous first year graduate
courses in microeconomics and macroeconomics. Workshop participants can do a number of
things to prepare for the workshop. Here are some suggestions:
Additional reading
materials include:
Day
1:
Jaime de Melo and
David Tarr (1992), A General Equilibrium Analysis of US Foreign Trade Policy,
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Jaime de Melo and
David Tarr (1990), “Welfare Costs of US Quotas in Textiles, Steel and Autos,”
Review of Economics and Statistics, August;
GAMS User’s Guide
(available at:
http://www.gams.com/docs/gams/GAMSUsersGuide.pdf)
MPSGE Users Guide
(available at http://www.gams.com/solvers/mpsge/index.htm)
James Markusen and
Thomas Rutherford (2004) “Getting Started with GAMS/MCP”, University of
Day
2
Constantine
Michalopoulos and David Tarr (1997), “The Economics of Customs Unions in the
Commonwealth of Independent States,” Post-Soviet Geography and Economics, Vol.
38, No. 3, 125-143.
Thomas Rutherford,
Elizabet Rutstrom and David Tarr (1997), “
Glenn Harrison,
Thomas Rutherford and David Tarr (1996), “Increased Competition and Completion
of the Market in the European Union: Static and Steady State Effects,” Journal
of Economic Integration, Vol 11, No. 3, 332-365, September 1996.
Glenn Harrison,
Thomas Rutherford and David Tarr (1997), “Quantifying the
Markusen’s examples
(http://www.mpsge.org/tutorial.pdf)
Sergey Paltsev (2004), “Moving from Static to Dynamic
General Equilibrium Models (Notes for a Beginner in MPSGE),” MIT Joint Program
on the Science and Policy of Global Change, 2004, Technical Note 4,
Day
3
Glenn Harrison,
Thomas Rutherford and David Tarr (2003), “Trade Liberalization, Poverty and
Efficient Equity,” Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 71 (1), June,
97-128.
Jesper Jensen and
David Tarr (2003), “Trade, Exchange Rate and Energy Pricing Reform in
Glenn Harrison,
Thomas Rutherford, David Tarr and Angelo Gurgel (2004), “Trade Policy and
Poverty Reduction in
Thomas Rutherford,
David Tarr and Oleksandr Shepotylo (2005), “Poverty Effects of Russia's WTO
accession: modeling real households and endogenous productivity effects.” World
Bank Policy and Research Working paper.
Thomas Rutherford and Sergey Paltsev (1999), “From an
Input-Output Table to a General Equilibrium Model: Assessing the Excess Burden
of Indirect Taxes in
Day
4
Jesper Jensen,
Thomas Rutherford and David Tarr (2007), “The Impact of Liberalizing Barriers to
Foreign Direct Investment in Services: The Case of Russian Accession to the
World Trade Organization,” forthcoming in Review of Development
Economics.
Day
5
Glenn Harrison,
Thomas Rutherford and David Tarr (2002), “Trade Policy Options for
James Markusen,
Thomas Rutherford and David Tarr (2005), “Trade and Direct Investment in
Producer Services and the Domestic Market for Expertise,” Canadian Journal of
Economics, Vol. 38 (3), 758-777.
Sergey Paltsev (2004), “Moving from Static to Dynamic
General Equilibrium Models (Notes for a Beginner in MPSGE),” MIT Joint Program
on the Science and Policy of Global Change, 2004, Technical Note 4,
Robert J. Barro and Xavier Sala-i-Martin (2004),
“Economic Growth”, 2nd ed., The MIT Press,