EcoMod ONLINE - Introduction to General Equilibrium Modeling using GAMS
Why This Course Matters:
Economists and graduate students will gain direct, hands-on experience in constructing and calibrating CGE models, enhancing their empirical toolkit for academic and professional research.
Policymakers and analysts will learn to simulate real-world policies—such as tax reform, trade tariffs, labor shocks, or environmental regulations—translating economic theory into robust quantitative insights.
Economic consultants and development experts will be equipped with a transferable methodology to evaluate policy impacts across sectors and agents, using scenarios based on realistic data and established modeling best practices.
- Modules include foundational background and GAMS tutorials, partial equilibrium (consumer & producer theory), and a progressive series of EcoMod-style CGE models—covering households, firms, inter-industry linkages, CES technologies, LES utility systems, savings/investment, government, and international trade.
- Hands-on labs guide participants through model building in GAMS, with real data calibration and policy scenario simulations.
- Reflective components: assignments prompt interpretation of simulation outputs, policy implications, and welfare analysis.
- Capstone module: participants synthesize global issues—such as trade, fiscal policy, or environmental regulation—into a comprehensive small-open-economy model.
- Graduate students strengthen their econometric and modeling foundations for thesis work and advanced research.
- Economists refine analytical capabilities for publication and peer-reviewed research using CGE tools.
- Policy analysts develop replicable frameworks for policymaking in taxation, welfare, trade, and environmental regulation.
- Consultants and development practitioners enhance advisory skills with dynamic simulation models adaptable to real-world data and institutional contexts.
The course uses a practical and very intensive approach to model building. The participants will actually build the model EcoMod step-by-step with guidance from the instructors: from small to large scale and from simple to complex structure. The participants will acquire extensive practical hands-on experience in building a complex, large-scale model. This will allow them to easily implement the first version of their own model using the GAMS codes of EcoMod.
Registration: EcoMod School Registration 2026