Parameter Estimation and Measures of Fit in A Global, General Equilibrium Model

Abstract

Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models have been widely used for quantitative analysis of global economic issues.However, CGE models are frequently criticized for resting on weak empirical foundations.This paper builds on recent work in macro-econometric estimation, developing an approach to parameter estimation for a widely employed global CGE model, the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model.An approximate likelihood function is developed and the set of optimum elasticity values is obtained by maximizing this approximate likelihood function in the context of a back casting exercise.In addition, two statistical tests are performed.The first of these tests compares the standard GTAP elasticity vector with the estimated trade elasticity vector.It rejects the null hypothesis of equality between the two sets of trade elasticities.The second test examines the widely maintained hypothesis known as the "rule of two", by which the elasticity of substitution across imports by sources is set equal

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 66 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.