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Course Content
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Objective
The GTAP PTA Course is designed to provide professionals and students with hands-on, applied training in the analysis of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) using the GTAP computable general equilibrium model. The objectives of the GTAP PTA course are to provide participants with an opportunity to develop their applied skills in the design of PTA experiments, the implementation of changes in tariff and non-tariff barriers, and the analysis of model results. The curriculum emphasizes an intuitive treatment of economic theory, provides structured experiences in manipulating and running the standard GTAP model within the RunGTAP software environment, and culminates in team-based research projects. At the end of the course, participants will have developed skills in the analysis of tariff and non-tariff liberalizations in a PTA.
During the online course, participants will:
- consider the potential impacts of PTAs, including on GDP, trade, factors of production and sectoral production – connecting applied model results to trade theories;
- operationalize the modelling of different aspects of PTAs within the GTAP CGE model, including tariff and non-tariff barriers;
- learn about different approaches to modelling non-tariff measures and their implications for importing and exporting countries; and
- learn how to interpret general equilibrium model results, including the impact of alternative closures.
Structure
The GTAP PTA Course is delivered fully online. All course materials are provided to participants and included in the cost of tuition. Learning takes place through active discussions among the participants and instructors, which are carried out as asynchronous, threaded conversations on the classroom bulletin board, and through virtual team work on collaborative projects.
Content Overview
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Week 1 - "Getting Started"
- Participants download and familiarize themselves with the course website, material, and software.
- Participants are also encouraged to review materials on the GTAP welfare decomposition, software (RunGTAP), and various tools, such as subtotals, AnalyseGE and Altertax, in preparation for weeks 2 and 3.
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Week 2
- Understand the welfare effects of trade taxes.
- Learn about trade creation and diversion and their effects on welfare.
- Learn to construct a PTA experiment in which tariffs are reduced and interpret the results using AnalyseGE.
- Learn to implement and interpret the results of a closure swap.
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Week 3
- Learn about price gap and gravity model approaches to estimating the AVEs of NTMs.
- Learn about the alternative mechanisms used for depicting NTMs in the standard GTAP model.
- Learn how to incorporate the AVE of an NTM into a model.
- Learn how to use subtotals to decompose and compare results.
- Compare alternative modelling mechanisms and their implications for assessing the effects of reductions in NTMs.
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Weeks 4-5 - "Group Research Project"
- As part of the research project participants will be provided a GTAP Data Base aggregation and will develop their own questions, shocks, closure and applications. Participants are encouraged to ask questions, try out various tools and think critically about their scenarios.
- Participants are encouraged to bring their own ideas, as well as look at various papers to get a feel for what a good CGE analysis entails.
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Week 6 - "Evaluations and Final Discussions"
Time Commitment
Participants should expect to spend approximately 10-12 hours/week on this course.
What GTAP PTA "Graduates" Are Saying...
"An excellent course with a very dedicated instructor and staff."
"The course is very effective. Instructions and guidance are excellent as always."
"I liked reading on new ideas how to interpret and estimate NTMs and simulate their elimination. I am also very pleased with deep, detailed and comprehensive comments of course instructors."
"The research project is a very good idea - great to work in teams with the fellow participants"
"Thanks for a great course!"
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