The Association Agreement between Jordan and the EU entered into force in 2002. It provides a gradual reduction of import duties on EU products over a period of twelve years. In this paper we investigate the economic implications of induced trade liberalization on aggregate economic performance as well as effects on welfare and income distribution of heterogenous households. This is done by int...

We show how to calibrate CES production and utility functions when indirect taxation affecting inputs and consumption is present. These calibrated functions can then be used in computable general equilibrium models. Taxation modifies the standard calibration procedures since any taxed good has two associated prices and a choice of reference value units has to be made. We also provide an example...

This chapter is a simple, rigorous, practically-oriented exposition of computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling. The general algebraic framework of a CGE model is developed from microeconomic fundamentals, and employed to illustrate (i) how a model may be calibrated using the economic data in a social accounting matrix, (ii) how the resulting system of numerical equations may be solved for...

The following notes contain a computer simulation concerning a basic nonWalrasian equilibrium system, following the Edmond Malinvaud “short side” approach, as far as the price adjustment is concerned, and the sequential Hicksian “weeks” structure with regard of the temporal characterization. Two strongly heterogeneous classes of agents will be taken into consideration: the “rich” and the “poor”...

This study links a multi-sectoral regionalized dynamic computable general equilibrium model of Ethiopia with a system of country-specific hydrology, crop, road and hydropower engineering models to simulate the economic impacts of climate change towards 2050. In the absence of externally funded policy-driven adaptation investments Ethiopia’s GDP in the 2040s will be up to 10 percent below the co...

Computing equilibria in general equilibria models with incomplete asset (GEI) markets is technically difficult. The standard numerical methods for computing these equilibria are based on homotopy methods. Despite recent advances in computational economics, much more can be done to enlarge the catalog of techniques for computing GEI equilibria. This paper presents an interior point algorithm tha...

We investigate the welfare effects of eliminating business cycles in a model with substantial consumer heterogeneity. The heterogeneity arises from uninsurable and idiosyncratic uncertainty in preferences and employment, where, regarding employment, we distinguish among employment and shortand long-term unemployment. We calibrate the model to match the distribution of wealth in U.S. data and fe...

This paper studies human capital formation, labor supply and retirement decisions associated with four alternative regimes of social security. We implement a theoretical model with overlapping generations of households and two different ability types within each generation. We find that with a given social security contribution rate, it is better to transfer income to the elderly as old-age ben...

In this paper we argue that in realistically calibrated two period general equilibrium models with incomplete markets CAPM-pricing provides a good benchmark for equilibrium prices even when agents are not mean-variance optimizers and returns are not normally distributed. We numerically approximate equilibria for a variety of di erent speci cations for preferences, endowments and dividends and c...

This paper explores how much firm-paid employee benefits and firms’ financial conditions have contributed to delayed employment recoveries relative to output since 1990, using a DSGE model. Empirically, I document the underexplored pro-cyclicality of per worker benefit costs. Post-1990 period differs from before in that: (1) there have been larger increases of such quasifixed employment costs a...