GTAP Events: 2015 Advisory Board Meeting

General Information
Date:	June 15-16, 2015
Location:	Productivity Commission Rattigan Room Level 12, 530 Collins Street Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia
Deliverables:	Agenda (presentations linked) Report and Issues Document Supplementary Material 2015 Summary

Agency Reports
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Research Fellows
The Board approved to name the following as Research Fellows for 2015-2018: Joaquim Bento Ferreira-Filho For his path-breaking work on poverty impacts of the WTO which led to important new insights about the role of labor markets in sharing the gains from global trade reforms as well as his work on land use and deforestation in Brazil. Also for his active role as a frequent conference participant and contributor of Brazilian I-O Tables to the GTAP Data Base. Will Martin For his vibrant and brilliant advocacy of global CGE analysis in the field of agricultural trade and poverty reduction analysis and support of the community through his contributions on the GTAP Advisory Board and his position at the World Bank. Also for his impressive academic and policy reform records constantly pushing forward the needs of a global database and promoting innovation. George Philippidis For applying the GTAP Model and Data Base for two decades and publishing in the highest quality journals. Also for being an active member of the GTAP community since its foundation, attending conferences and short courses as well as contributing to the improvement of MAGNET, jointly contributing the EU's domestic support and new domestic support data for GTAP 9 and making significant policy-oriented analysis for the European Commission. Maureen Rimmer For being instrumental in developing two of the most prominent country-level CGE models in the world--MONASH and USAGE, both of which contain innumerable innovations including model validation, econometric estimation, macro-economic forecasting, and highly disaggregated and regional analysis. Also for making her mark in combining theoretical rigor and applied economics, notably her work (with Alan Powell) on the AIDADS consumer demand system. Anna Strutt For being an extremely highly valued instructor of both the standard GTAP Short Course and the Dynamic GTAP Short Course as well as being a frequent attendee, presenter and active reviewer and chair at the annual GTAP conference. Also for having used the GTAP Model for a long list of applications, largely in the areas of trade and economic relations in the Pacific. The Board also approved to name the following into the GTAP Hall of Fame: Peter Dixon For his intellectual leadership in CGE modeling methodologies, including comparative static, single country models, CGE model-based forecasting and the analysis of firm heterogeneity. Terrie Walmsley For leading the GTAP Network for a decade during which the range of Center activities as well as the network grew rapidly, along with seminal contributions to CGE analysis of migration and long-run baselines.

Research Fellows

The Board approved to name the following as Research Fellows for 2015-2018:

Joaquim Bento Ferreira-Filho
For his path-breaking work on poverty impacts of the WTO which led to important new insights about the role of labor markets in sharing the gains from global trade reforms as well as his work on land use and deforestation in Brazil. Also for his active role as a frequent conference participant and contributor of Brazilian I-O Tables to the GTAP Data Base.

Will Martin
For his vibrant and brilliant advocacy of global CGE analysis in the field of agricultural trade and poverty reduction analysis and support of the community through his contributions on the GTAP Advisory Board and his position at the World Bank. Also for his impressive academic and policy reform records constantly pushing forward the needs of a global database and promoting innovation.

George Philippidis
For applying the GTAP Model and Data Base for two decades and publishing in the highest quality journals. Also for being an active member of the GTAP community since its foundation, attending conferences and short courses as well as contributing to the improvement of MAGNET, jointly contributing the EU's domestic support and new domestic support data for GTAP 9 and making significant policy-oriented analysis for the European Commission.

Maureen Rimmer
For being instrumental in developing two of the most prominent country-level CGE models in the world--MONASH and USAGE, both of which contain innumerable innovations including model validation, econometric estimation, macro-economic forecasting, and highly disaggregated and regional analysis. Also for making her mark in combining theoretical rigor and applied economics, notably her work (with Alan Powell) on the AIDADS consumer demand system.

Anna Strutt
For being an extremely highly valued instructor of both the standard GTAP Short Course and the Dynamic GTAP Short Course as well as being a frequent attendee, presenter and active reviewer and chair at the annual GTAP conference. Also for having used the GTAP Model for a long list of applications, largely in the areas of trade and economic relations in the Pacific.

The Board also approved to name the following into the GTAP Hall of Fame:

Peter Dixon
For his intellectual leadership in CGE modeling methodologies, including comparative static, single country models, CGE model-based forecasting and the analysis of firm heterogeneity.

Terrie Walmsley
For leading the GTAP Network for a decade during which the range of Center activities as well as the network grew rapidly, along with seminal contributions to CGE analysis of migration and long-run baselines.

Alan A. Powell Award
Each year at the GTAP Advisory Board meeting we present an award to one of the members of the Board in recognition of outstanding service. This award is in honor of one of the Founding Members of the Advisory Board, and the intellectual grandfather of GTAP - Alan A. Powell. The 2015 recipient of the Alan A. Powell Award is Mr. Anders Aeroe, Director, Division of Market Development, International Trade Centre. Anders joined the ITC in 2011 - just one year before the GTAP Conference in Geneva. This was just about the time the individual championing the 2012 Geneva Conference left the ITC. It was suddenly realized that the success of the entire conference was at risk. Anders, together with colleagues at the WTO and UNCTAD stepped into the breach to ensure that this would go forward. Anders hosted the Board meeting at the ITC, and he, along with Mondher Mimouni, set aside ITC resources to give the Board a hands-on introduction to the ITC tariffs data base. This was a real confidence-builder and proved to be an inflection point in the relationship between the ITC and the Consortium, as well as the network at large. With the recent public release of the GTAP 9 Data Base, the ITC has become our key collaborator in the delivery of protection data. The ITC has worked closely with the Center to reconcile issues that have arisen, recently hosting Badri Narayanan and Janine Pelikan for an intensive face-to-face session in Geneva, and co-authoring numerous conference papers drawing out important features of this rich data base. We have come a long way from the first GTAP Data Bases where Brad MacDonald was hand copying MFN tariff rates out of the WTO country reports! By working closely with Anders' team at the ITC, we ensure that we have the latest, most up-to-date protection data. Delivering data to GTAP does not directly butter the ITC's financial bread, so the Center and greater network greatly appreciate their commitment to this relationship and we look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration. Thank you, Anders, and the entire ITC team, for your important contributions to the public good!

Alan A. Powell Award

Each year at the GTAP Advisory Board meeting we present an award to one of the members of the Board in recognition of outstanding service. This award is in honor of one of the Founding Members of the Advisory Board, and the intellectual grandfather of GTAP - Alan A. Powell.

The 2015 recipient of the Alan A. Powell Award is Mr. Anders Aeroe, Director, Division of Market Development, International Trade Centre. Anders joined the ITC in 2011 - just one year before the GTAP Conference in Geneva. This was just about the time the individual championing the 2012 Geneva Conference left the ITC. It was suddenly realized that the success of the entire conference was at risk. Anders, together with colleagues at the WTO and UNCTAD stepped into the breach to ensure that this would go forward. Anders hosted the Board meeting at the ITC, and he, along with Mondher Mimouni, set aside ITC resources to give the Board a hands-on introduction to the ITC tariffs data base. This was a real confidence-builder and proved to be an inflection point in the relationship between the ITC and the Consortium, as well as the network at large. With the recent public release of the GTAP 9 Data Base, the ITC has become our key collaborator in the delivery of protection data. The ITC has worked closely with the Center to reconcile issues that have arisen, recently hosting Badri Narayanan and Janine Pelikan for an intensive face-to-face session in Geneva, and co-authoring numerous conference papers drawing out important features of this rich data base. We have come a long way from the first GTAP Data Bases where Brad MacDonald was hand copying MFN tariff rates out of the WTO country reports! By working closely with Anders' team at the ITC, we ensure that we have the latest, most up-to-date protection data. Delivering data to GTAP does not directly butter the ITC's financial bread, so the Center and greater network greatly appreciate their commitment to this relationship and we look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration.

Thank you, Anders, and the entire ITC team, for your important contributions to the public good!

Recognition of a Lifetime of Service to the GTAP Advisory Board
The 2015 GTAP Advisory Board Meeting was a very special meeting for a few reasons. First, being in Melbourne, Alan Powell was able to attend. Second, the meeting was hosted by the Productivity Commission, which was one of four founding Board Members. The Productivity Commission’s representative at the time was Philippa Dee -- Patrick Jomini’s boss! So there is great continuity here. Indeed this continuity has been one of the greatest strengths of GTAP and there is no greater symbol of continuity on the GTAP Advisory Board than Will Martin, who was recognized for his "lifetime" contribution for service on the GTAP Advisory Board. Will Martin, who recently retired from the World Bank and therefore stepped down from the Advisory Board, has been the longest serving Board Member in GTAP history. Indeed, he is the very embodiment of GTAP history! Will was there "at the beginning". The International Trade Research Group of the World Bank was the very first institution to "sign on the dotted line". While this type of consortium agreement may seem relatively routine today, at the time it was a totally foreign concept, both to the World Bank, and to Purdue University. Getting this through the two bureaucracies was a tortuous process that both Will and Tom Hertel likely blocked out of their active memories! It took six months of continuous word-smithing and cajoling; however, once in place, it became a great source of leverage with other agencies. When confronted with this odd animal – a university-based, publicly funded consortium which does not attract overhead payments and does not have explicit deliverables – other agencies concluded: “if it this is OK with the lawyers at the World Bank, then it is OK with us”, and we attracted 3 more consortium members in short order, and 4 more within another year. Will’s contribution did not stop with his leadership on the Board. He has been a giant in the field of trade policy analysis – leading new developments in theory, application and data base development. And it is through these contributions to the content of the GTAP Network that he has had his most profound effect on this community. This started with the conference and subsequent edited volume by Will Martin and Alan Winters analyzing the impact of the Uruguay Round on Developing countries. Before this conference, the estimates of global gains from the UR Agreement were all over the map, ranging from several Trillion $ to less than $100 Billion! By developing, for the first time, a set of pre- and post UR protection measures, Will introduced a tremendous discipline into this debate. And he ensured that these measures were developed in such a way as to be usable by GTAP-based global CGE modelers, and publicly available – a feat which required overcoming a great deal of resistance on the part of many institutions and individuals. As a result, the majority of the studies in this conference used the GTAP Data Base, and these UR "shocks", and the differences across results shrunk from more than an order to magnitude to less than 25%, with the remaining differences largely having to do with clearly identifiable differences in model structure and parameters. Suddenly GTAP was no longer an academic construct. It had become an integral part of the policy process. Will continued this tradition of mediating between the GTAP community and trade policy makers, leading important projects on China’s accession to the WTO, as well as the global impacts of the Doha Development Agenda. In each case, his own work, and that which he supported, has been characterized by rigorous economic analysis, careful attention to data quality and a focus on the questions which policy makers were asking at the time. It is hard to imagine the success of GTAP over the past two decades without Will’s intellectual leadership. As a modest acknowledgement of Will's tremendous contributions to the GTAP Network over the past two decades, we honor Will Martin's "lifetime of service". Thank you Will!

Recognition of a Lifetime of Service to the GTAP Advisory Board

The 2015 GTAP Advisory Board Meeting was a very special meeting for a few reasons. First, being in Melbourne, Alan Powell was able to attend. Second, the meeting was hosted by the Productivity Commission, which was one of four founding Board Members. The Productivity Commission’s representative at the time was Philippa Dee -- Patrick Jomini’s boss! So there is great continuity here. Indeed this continuity has been one of the greatest strengths of GTAP and there is no greater symbol of continuity on the GTAP Advisory Board than Will Martin, who was recognized for his "lifetime" contribution for service on the GTAP Advisory Board.

Will Martin, who recently retired from the World Bank and therefore stepped down from the Advisory Board, has been the longest serving Board Member in GTAP history. Indeed, he is the very embodiment of GTAP history! Will was there "at the beginning". The International Trade Research Group of the World Bank was the very first institution to "sign on the dotted line". While this type of consortium agreement may seem relatively routine today, at the time it was a totally foreign concept, both to the World Bank, and to Purdue University. Getting this through the two bureaucracies was a tortuous process that both Will and Tom Hertel likely blocked out of their active memories! It took six months of continuous word-smithing and cajoling; however, once in place, it became a great source of leverage with other agencies. When confronted with this odd animal – a university-based, publicly funded consortium which does not attract overhead payments and does not have explicit deliverables – other agencies concluded: “if it this is OK with the lawyers at the World Bank, then it is OK with us”, and we attracted 3 more consortium members in short order, and 4 more within another year.

Will’s contribution did not stop with his leadership on the Board. He has been a giant in the field of trade policy analysis – leading new developments in theory, application and data base development. And it is through these contributions to the content of the GTAP Network that he has had his most profound effect on this community. This started with the conference and subsequent edited volume by Will Martin and Alan Winters analyzing the impact of the Uruguay Round on Developing countries. Before this conference, the estimates of global gains from the UR Agreement were all over the map, ranging from several Trillion $ to less than $100 Billion! By developing, for the first time, a set of pre- and post UR protection measures, Will introduced a tremendous discipline into this debate. And he ensured that these measures were developed in such a way as to be usable by GTAP-based global CGE modelers, and publicly available – a feat which required overcoming a great deal of resistance on the part of many institutions and individuals. As a result, the majority of the studies in this conference used the GTAP Data Base, and these UR "shocks", and the differences across results shrunk from more than an order to magnitude to less than 25%, with the remaining differences largely having to do with clearly identifiable differences in model structure and parameters. Suddenly GTAP was no longer an academic construct. It had become an integral part of the policy process.

Will continued this tradition of mediating between the GTAP community and trade policy makers, leading important projects on China’s accession to the WTO, as well as the global impacts of the Doha Development Agenda. In each case, his own work, and that which he supported, has been characterized by rigorous economic analysis, careful attention to data quality and a focus on the questions which policy makers were asking at the time. It is hard to imagine the success of GTAP over the past two decades without Will’s intellectual leadership.

As a modest acknowledgement of Will's tremendous contributions to the GTAP Network over the past two decades, we honor Will Martin's "lifetime of service". Thank you Will!

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GTAP Events: 2015 Advisory Board Meeting