Description:
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 students with an underpinning in the economic theory of tariffs and customs unions and regulatory policy analysis, and to help them develop their applied skills in database development, design of PTA experiments and analysis of model results. The curriculum emphasizes an intuitive and graphical 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 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.