Summer School in Applied General Equilibrium Analysis
– Preliminary Contents
Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics, University of Hertfordshire Business School, United Kingdom (The Sister School of School of Eocnomics, Xiamen University)
Modelling for a better world
The course assumes very limited prior knowledge of AGE analysis by course participants, but competence with mathematical optimisation procedures and basic programming skills will be very helpful. The essential contents will cover the following topics.
1. Input-output systems, social accounting matrix (SAM) and the valuation basis of national accounts
The first few sessions will discuss the main I-O accounts, the SAM and how the entries in the I-O accounts and the SAM are valued. It is of crucial importance to have a uniform valuation basis (UVB) in constructing I-O and CGE models. Industrial linkages, environmental linkages and impact analysis will also briefly be introduced but not covered in detail.
2. Simple optimisation problems with GAMS (e.g. constrained utility maximisation and DEA evaluation of banking efficiency)
These sessions will use static and dynamic optimisation exercises to enable course participants to familiarise themselves with the GAMS language and the modelling environment. At the end of the session, a practical exercise will be introduced in which the efficiency levels of the four state-owned commercial banks in China are evaluated using the Data Envelopment Analysis technique (note that this course will not cover the DEA technique in any detail. There are specialist training courses on this. The intention here is only to show the capabilities of GAMS as a linear and non-linear programming package).
3. Anatomy of a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model
This session covers the broad structure of a CGE model, e.g. the price block, the quantity block, the structure of demand and supply, the income distribution and re-distribution block, and closure rules.
4. Design and construction of an applied CGE model
This covers the identification of policy needs, simulation needs, data requirements, levels of disaagregation and model solution.
5. Case study of a CGE model for China using a 1987 database
This model is constructed on the basis of a SAM for China in 1987 which was obtained from Economic Systems Research (Zhang, 1998). This is used as an example for constructing a basic-level single country static CGE model
6. Case study of an inter-regional CGE model for the UK using a 1999 database
This model is constructed on the basis of a provisional inter-regional SAM for the UK in 1999. The SAM is provided by a Strathclyde team and disaggregates the UK into two regions – Scotland and the rest of UK. The model contains some advanced materials, such as endogenous consumption and labour supply decisions by skilled and unskilled households, alternative labour market closure rules, inter-regional migration of labour, introduction of exogenous technical progress, computation of Hicksian compensating variation and equivalent variation. The model is a comparative-static inter-regional CGE model.
The course will be delivered through both tutor-led lectures and intensive computer lab based practical sessions. Course participants will have open and full access to the source codes and databases for the prototype models for China and the UK. By the end of the course, participants should be able to gain the know-how for constructing an applied CGE model from a raw database step by step!
This course is targeted for research departments of government and private agencies as well as other researchers/research students who are interested in system-wide modelling techniques. The maximum number of participants will be restricted to 20. (The number of applicants has almost reached the maximum number by May 14th, please apply as soon as possible if interested.)
Schedule:
Monday 23rd July to Friday 27th July 2007
The University of Hertfordshire Business School, de Havilland campus, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, U.K.
Delegate rates:
£1,050 per person for University Lecturers, Government Organisations, Research Institutes and Private Agencies. £650 per person for registered PhD students. (Possilbe to be waived for faculty of our School of Economics, Xiamen University. Please contact Ms. Yu Xiaofang 2181915.)
For further information, please contact: Dr. Ya Ping Yin, Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics, University of Hertfordshire Business School, Hatfield, Herts, AL10 9EU, United Kingdom. E-mail: y.p.yin@herts.ac.uk, telephone: (00) 44 (0) 1707 285481, fax: (00) 44 (0) 1707 285629.
Please see the Booking Form attached.
