17th Ruhr Graduate Summer School

Over the last decades computable general equilibrium (CGE) models have become a wide-spread tool for the economic impact assessment of policy regulation. This workshop provides a practical guideline to CGE modeling of open economies using data of the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP), which includes detailed national accounts on production and consumption together with bilateral trade flows for a large number of countries.

The workshop will discuss alternative approaches to study international trade in a general equilibrium framework. The main focus is on economic integration under current threats to cooperative international trade as well as bilateral tariff wars. To provide the basis for subsequent large-scale applications we discuss and implement alternative theoretical approaches to study international trade (Armington, Heckscher-Ohlin, Krugman, and Melitz). Pedagogic analysis based on small-dimensional models with stylized data will be complemented with large-scale applications based on the GTAP data set.

For model implementation and data management we use the Generalized Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS), which is a convenient model language for the development of large-scale mathematical programs and the processing of extensive datasets. To facilitate the formulation and calibration of large-scale CGE models we introduce MPSGE (Mathematical Programming System for General Equilibrium analysis) – a powerful meta-language for CGE modeling operated under GAMS.

Instructors

Prof Edward J. Balistreri (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA)

Prof Christoph Böhringer (University of Oldenburg, Germany)

Prof Volker Clausen (University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany)

Workshop Contents

• Introduction and data management in GAMS
• Trade models in partial and general equilibrium
• Trade models for policy analysis
• Advanced trade structures and large-scale applications
• Advanced trade policy applications

Participants

The workshop is targeted to scientific researchers and policy analysts at universities, research centers, consulting companies and ministries who are interested in the economic impact assessment of policy interventions using computable general equilibrium (CGE) models. While the field of application for CGE models is broad, the workshop will pay special attention to the applied analysis of international trade policy.

Fees and Scholarships

The fee for participating in the training workshop is 2,500 Euro and includes lectures, course material and lunches. 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 40%. There will be a limited number of scholarships (in the form of tuition waiver, excluding travel and subsistence expenses) that have been set aside for qualified participants from developing countries. Deadline for the application for a scholarship is July 21, 2023.

Additional Information and Deadlines

All sessions take place at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Campus Essen. The registration deadline is August 18, 2023. The maximum number of participants is restricted to 16! Slots are guaranteed only upon full payment of fees through the course coordinator.

For more information, please contact the course coordinator Mr Ioannis Arampatzidis (ioannis.arampatzidis@vwl.uni‐due.de) or click here.

More Information