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GTAP Events: 2000 Advisory Board Meeting

General Information
Date: June 12-14, 2000
Location: Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A.
Agenda: PDF file 2000 Agenda
PDF file 2000 Meeting Notes


Agency Reports and Representatives


Alan A. Powell Award
Each year we acknowledge the contributions of one of the GTAP Advisory Board members with the Alan A. Powell award. Alan Powell was the inspiration behind this project. He founded the IMPACT Project in Australia-and directed it for more than two decades. The GTAP effort drew heavily on the IMPACT philosophy.

Unfortunately, Alan was unable to be with us this year due to severe back problems. However, I can assure you that he would be very pleased to hear that our selection this year is Ali Bayar of the European Commission.

Ali first became affiliated with GTAP when he participated in the European Conference held in a lovely castle in Geissen. The paper he presented involved a very innovative model of the potential double-dividend from using energy taxes to lower wage costs and encourage employment in the EU. Subsequent to his participation in that conference, he attended the annual short course and subsequently convinced the European Commission of the merits of becoming a GTAP Consortium member. This has led to a series of Commission-funded activities that have had a significant impact on the usefulness of GTAP in Europe. In addition, Ali chaired the program committee at the 2nd Annual Conference on Global Economic Analysis held last year in Denmark. It was a great success.

In short, Ali Bayar is outstanding contributor to the GTAP Advisory Board. We are pleased to recognize his accomplishments with the 2000 Alan A. Powell Award.

Congratulations, Ali!


New Research Fellows
  • Glenn Harrison
    In recognition of outstanding economic research using the GTAP Data Base as well as contributions to broadening of the network of GTAP users.
  • Wang Zhi
    In recognition of outstanding contributions, both to the GTAP Data Base as well as to its use in contemporary policy applications.


Review of 1999 Goals
The goals for the past year, as laid out at the 1999 GTAP board meeting, are listed below, along with an assessment of our progress towards accomplishing these goals.
  1. Disaggregation of the services sectors in GTAP.

  2. Comprehensive evaluation of the DOE energy project and incorporation into the main build-stream of GTAP, as appropriate.

  3. Implement new management plan for the data base and preliminary release of version five by March 1, 2000.

  4. Validation of the GTAP Model in conjunction with a back-casting exercise aimed at estimation of trade elasticities for the standard GTAP Model.

  5. Successful delivery of a series of six preparatory modules for some of the participants in the

  6. Another successful short course to be held in August at Purdue University.

  7. A successful 2nd Annual Conference in Global Economic Analysis to be held in Denmark

  8. GTAP support for outreach efforts aimed at building capacity to analyze trade policy in developing countries particularly in Africa.

  9. Development of new distance learning modules on advanced topics, including: imperfect competition, trade and the environment, and conducting projections with GTAP. These may be offered as follow-up options for individuals who have completed the short course, and wish to obtain more in-depth training on specialized issues.

  10. The addition of 3 - 5 more technical papers on the web site.

  11. The addition of a post-doc at the Center in order to provide better support for, and increased professionalization of, the new data base strategy.



Date Base Update


Future Directions
Issues addressed and decisions made included:

  • It was decided that the base case scenario currently being developed for the dynamic GTAP Model and course should be made publicly available once we were happy with it. In particular members would like to have access to the macro projections used.

  • It was felt that the term "common base line" was misleading as it suggested that this was the GTAP base line which should be used. The base line provided on the web should therefore be referred to by another term (e.g. reference base line).

  • It was suggested that part of the web board could also be devoted to discussions on the base line projections. Arjan LeJour gave an overview on the work being done at the CPB towards obtaining projections for population, labor and skilled labor.

  • Some discussion over the difficulties of obtaining skilled labor projections, in particular whether they should be based on education or occupation. Overall it was felt that everyone would benefit from greater cooperation in this area.

  • The suggestion was made to include energy projections in these base line projections.



Goals for 2000/2001
At this time next year, we plan to have accomplished the following:

  1. Implementation of our plan for multiple updates on the prerelease as major improvements are made, converging on the final data base three months prior to the public release.

  2. Introduction of a web board for discussion of data base related concerns, as well as  posting of related information and news.

  3. Public release of the GTAP version 5 data base.

  4. Release of a new version of the standard GTAP model, featuring a modular structure and accessible via the web with version control features.

  5. Release of a dynamic GTAP Model featuring international capital mobility and explicit accounting for ownership of foreign and domestic assets.

  6. Successful delivery of the eighth annual short course, along with associated preparatory modules.

  7. Successful delivery of a dynamic GTAP short course in October. Validation of the GTAP Model in conjunction with a back-casting exercise aimed at estimation of trade elasticities for the standard GTAP Model.

  8. A successful 3rd Annual Conference in Global Economic Analysis in Melbourne, Australia.

  9. Continued GTAP support for outreach efforts aimed at building capacity to analyze trade policy in Africa, including a series of workshops in the region, coordinated by Channing Arndt.

  10. Begin the process of improving the government and external accounts in GTAP.

  11. Development of additional distance learning modules on advanced topics, in collaboration with researchers/teachers at other institutions.

  12. The addition of a 3 - 4 more technical papers on the website.



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