Course Description

This course aims to strengthen the capacity of researchers and decision makers to evaluate various policy alternatives. The trainees will learn how to conduct model-based multi-sector economic policy analysis, how to express findings as policy alternatives, and how to communicate the results in policy papers and verbal presentations. It aims to train a cadre of policy analysts in the construction of social accounting matrices (SAMS) and in the conduct of analysis of alternative policies, with a focus on their impact of overall and agricultural growth, poverty alleviation, and the environment. The typical trainee background is a Master’s degree in Economics or related fields.

Course objective

The objective of the training course is to strengthen the capacity of policy analysts from Southern Africa to conduct quantitative policy analysis using partial and general equilibrium analysis methods. The ultimate aim of the training course is to empower each participant with the capacity to analyse the impacts of suggested policies, to develop new alternatives, and to confidently communicate their findings to the policy decision makers of their countries. 

The course will address both the partial and general equilibrium models. The partial equilibrium models include supply-demand models covering single and multiple markets: i.e., models that are applied to a subset of the markets of an economy. Such models are useful tools for assessing policy impact, especially when the policies affect sectors representing a relatively small share of total economic activity. General equilibrium models, which cover all economic sectors, are more powerful since they give a fuller account of the economic repercussions of policy changes, but they are also more complex to construct and use. Each general equilibrium simulation (reflecting a policy change or an exogenous shock) shows the impact on a full set of economic indicators, including disaggregated household incomes, prices, supplies and demands for factors and commodities (including foreign trade), and macroeconomic aggregates.

In the process of teaching these modelling approaches, the course will combine theory, data, and application, with emphasis on hands-on computer training. In the theory area, it will survey basic micro, macro, and trade theory, all of which are applied in economic models.

At the conclusion of the training course, participants will possess applied skills in policy modelling using partial and general equilibrium models, in data base development and documentation, and in the use of GAMS (the General Algebraic Modelling System; multipurpose economic modelling software). In addition to trainee’s capacity strengthening, the course will provide participant’s institutions with a set of general and partial equilibrium models applied to their countries and enhanced data sets that provide a starting point for future policy analysis.