The ‘curse of dimensionality’ resolved: The effects of climate change and trade barriers in large dimensional modelling

Solving large scale optimisation problems over space and time quickly generates a computational impasse, termed the ‘curse of dimensionality’. This severely limits the practical use of economic models, especially for determining the effects of climate change and protectionist trade policies. In this paper, we employ an innovative approach to solving (otherwise unsolvable) large scale systems through the use of parallel processing methods and a proper ordering of variables and equations in a ‘Nested Doubly Bordered Block Diagonal’ form. We illustrate how the approach can be used to solve an intertemporal CGE model with more than 500 million equations. Using existing damage functions, the framework allows us to determine the impact of climate change on long-run economic growth for 112 countries as a result of the effect of sea-level rise on land endowments, variation in crop yields and productivity and shifts in the demand for energy and transportation. We also compare our solution to more common (and smaller dimensional) recursive methods, in terms of both the economic effects of climate change and potential increases in trade barriers, showing the power and efficiency of our computational approach and parallel processing routine.     

Impact of Donald Trump’s tariff increase against Chinese imports on global economy: Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign contains several trade protectionism plans. This paper aims to analyze possible global impact of United States’ plan to impose import tariff increase against China. The GTAP model is implemented. The simulations present possible short-run effects of full-protection and manufacturing-only protection with appropriate retaliation response from China. The policy might lead to GDP, terms-of-trade, and welfare decline in United States and China; and an increase in trade balance for United States. Trade diversion pattern is observed in the simulation results, predicting shrinking bilateral trade between the two countries and increasing export toward their third trading partners.     

建立东亚自由贸易区的中国经济效应研究——基于GTAP模型的实证分析

区域经济一体化在经济全球化的大背景下加速发展,东亚地区为世界上最活跃的经济区域之一。论文应用全球贸易分析(GTAP)模型实证模拟东亚地区建立自由贸易区(FTA)后的经济变化,研究建立东亚自由贸易区后对中国及世界经济的影响。研究结果表明:(1)东亚各成员国之间具有经济互补性,合作前景广阔,建立自由贸易区将有力地改善东亚地区的社会福利,同时区域成员之间也具有贸易创造效应。(2)中国各个产业均会受到不同程度的冲击,中国应重点关注在矿产及资源类、纺织品、电子类及制造业等领域所带来的负面效应。     

中国内地和中国香港的贸易自由化效应研究——基于全球贸易分析模型GTAP的分析

基于全球贸易分析模型GTAP模型和CEPA免税清单"原产地"标准,分析了中国内地和中国香港实施"港产品零关税"和"全面贸易自由化"产生的经济、贸易和产业效应,以及海峡两岸ECFA早期收获和全面实施的影响。研究发现:由于中国内地关税大幅度减免,"港产品零关税"使中国香港进出口增加幅度大于中国内地,中国内地服务业和符合原产地标准的中国香港制造业生产出口增加。如果两地进一步实现"全面贸易自由化",则进出口值、经济增长和福利水平将大幅度提高,并促进两地产业结构调整和升级,但中国内地进口增加幅度大于出口导致贸易余额减少。此外,ECFA早期收获使中国台湾贸易余额增加,而ECFA全面实施将使中国香港作为海峡两岸经贸中转港的地位受到影响。     

多哈回合对中国农业的影响:基于全球贸易分析模型(GTAP)的初步评估

本文使用全球贸易分析模型就世界贸易组织有关农业谈判的不同结果对中国的影响进行了分析。分析结果表明,不管WTO农业谈判最终达成的是何种削减力度的方案,中国的受益程度都非常有限,因为中国在入世时承诺的关税水平已经非常低。基于这一事实,本文认为,中国应该在谈判中更大程度地争取对“新成员”的优惠,并积极参与区域贸易自由化。此外,文中根据模型模拟结果对多哈回合的进展情况进行了简单评估,认为WTO农业谈判所取得的象征性成果多于实质进展,因此,在对WTO农业谈判抱有乐观看法的同时,仍需要注意谈判的复杂性与长期性。     

中美“轮胎特保案”对我国轮胎业及宏观经济的影响——基于GTAP模型的一般均衡分析

美国宣布自2009年9月26日起对我国输美轮胎征收为期三年的惩罚性关税。本文利用GTAP模型就中美"轮胎特保案"对我国轮胎产业及宏观经济的影响进行模拟分析。结果表明:高于25%的惩罚性关税不仅给我国对美轮胎出口、轮胎产出与价格、贸易平衡以及产业收入与就业带来一定的负面冲击,也将对我国整体对外贸易条件、GDP增长及社会总福利产生不同程度的消极影响。     

欧盟否认中国市场经济地位对中国及世界经济影响的剖析

研究目标：探究欧盟否认中国市场经济地位,对中国、欧盟及世界经济的宏观、产业以及贸易的影响。研究方法：将“非市场经济地位”折算为“反倾销等值税”,利用全球贸易分析模型针对欧盟对中国征收的进口关税进行计算。研究发现：欧盟否认中国市场经济地位不会缓解欧盟就业压力,反而使欧盟出口在中国总进口占比下降0.01个百分点;同时,全世界资源配置效率下降,进一步导致全世界整体福利下降;虽然欧盟否认中国市场经济地位使中国对欧盟出口减少约50.6亿美元,但中国向世界其他地区的出口量均有所上升;而且有利于中国产业结构优化,对供给侧改革有一定的激励作用。研究创新：将“非市场经济地位”折算为“反倾销等值税”。研究价值：在研究非数值变量时（如市场经济地位）,可利用其直接影响的变量（反倾销）造成的直接经济损失,折算为适当的指标变量（等值关税）。中国对世界经济的贡献和影响巨大,市场经济地位不容否认。     

Impact of Regional Economic Integration in East Asia

The current study evaluates the economy wide impact of trade liberalization in the ASEAN region along with China, Japan and Korea (ASEAN + 3) by the year 2020 using the GTAP framework. The study also assesses the environmental impact of the trade liberalization in the region focusing on the seven environmental indicators (CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, BOD, COD, Suspended Solid and Industrial Waste). The result shows that the countries under agreement (ASEAN + 3) will benefit with increased output, expansion of trade and welfare due to trade reforms. Further, the integration will increase the global welfare, although the regions not under agreement in the world will show a decline in output growth. Vietnam will be gaining with the highest output growth among the ASEAN region; however, the impact on the environment would not be favourable. The environmental impact reveals a mixed outcome for participating countries under the agreement. The paper provides useful insight in pursuing greater trade liberalization among the countries under the study.     

Province-Level Impacts of Canada’s Trade Agreements

Given Canada’s extended geography and regional economic diversity, individual provinces have differing exposures to particular international trade agreements. We demonstrate this by estimating the impacts of the Canada-Korea free trade agreement on the province of Ontario, using a dynamic general equilibrium model to generate Canada-level impacts, which are then decomposed on the basis of partial equilibrium model simulations on a trade dataset in which Ontario is represented as a separate international trading entity. We show that geography and sectoral specialization matter and that general equilibrium effects must be taken into account in partial equilibrium assessments of sectoral impacts of major trade agreements.     

Macroeconomic costs to large scale disruptions of food production: The case of foot- and-mouth disease in the United States

We forecast the economic consequences of a widespread contamination of the food system based on a hypothetical outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). Since the immediate effect on the livestock sector could affect the entire supply chain and US livestock, meat and dairy exports, we measure these impacts using GTAP, a multi-region, multi-sector computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the global economy. The immediate “shocks” to the US livestock, raw milk and other animal products sectors indirectly affect all sectors of the economy, as well as international markets and trade. We decompose these effects due to each component of the initial shocks, and estimate the importance of these shocks to the national food system for the Mid-Atlantic Region using IMPLAN. Our GTAP results indicate that losses to the USA economy would be about $11.7 billion, and with the ripple effect throughout the rest of the world including beneficiary nations (Argentina, Brazil, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand) and losers (Canada, Mexico, European Union) would be 14.1 billion. We estimate the proportion of the domestic impact affecting the Mid-Atlantic Region. Based on a regional input–output model of that region, we estimate that total losses in value added are nearly $800 million; losses in labor income total about $565 million; and there are job losses of just over 12 thousand.