Location:
International Food Policy Research Institute
2033 K Street, NW, Washington, DC
Fourth Floor Conference Facility
Thursday, May 9, 2002
3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
R.S.V.P.

Abstract
Over the past twenty-five years, computable general equilibrium (CGE) models have become a standard tool of empirical economic analysis. Improvements in model specification, data availability, and computer technology have improved the payoffs and reduced the costs of policy analysis based on CGE models. Drawing on these improvements, IFPRI recently developed a “standard’ CGE model, the purpose of which is to contribute to, and facilitate, the use of this type of models in policy analysis in developing countries. The model, which has been applied to a large number of countries, incorporates features developed in the context of IFPRI research projects, including household consumption of non-marketed (or “home”) commodities, explicit treatment of transactions costs for commodities that enter the market sphere, and a separation between producing activities and commodities that permits any activity to produce multiple commodities and any commodity to be produced by multiple activities. The model is written for application on the country level but can readily be applied to a region within a country (for example a village) or to a farm household.

At this seminar, we will present (i) the “standard” CGE model and its required database; (ii) how the model can be applied to analysis of the impact of policies on poverty and income distribution; and (iii) how it can be extended to a world model with multiple regions that, as opposed to existing world models for selected regions is able to capture the distributional and poverty effects of alternative scenarios for the world economy, including alternative WTO agreements.

Please RSVP to 202-862-8107 or Email: S.Hill-Lee@cgiar.org.