Global Trade and Analysis Project (GTAP) Model

The standard GTAP model (named after the Global Trade Analysis Project at Purdue University) is a multiregion, multisector computable general equilibrium model. GTAP-E incorporates energy substitution and carbon emissions into the standard model, and allows international emission trading.

This tool is included in the Development Impacts Assessment (DIA) Toolkit from the LEDS Global Partnership.

Approach

GTAP-E is built on the GTAP model of global trade. GTAP (Global Trade Analysis Project) is a multi-regional AGE model which captures world economic activity in a few dozen different industries of more than 60 regions. GTAP-E allows modeling the energy-economy-environment-trade linkages by incorporating energy substitution into the standard model. In addition, GTAP-E incorporates carbon emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels and provides for a mechanism to trade these emissions internationally.

When to Use This Tool

This tool is most useful for development impacts assessments focused on:

Social

Economic

Environmental

Learn more about the topics for assessing the impacts of low-emission development strategies (LEDS).

Key Outputs

Evaluation of the potential impacts of trade policies, and the land use impacts of climate change policies.

How to Use This Tool

Training Available
User manual provided; training and educational materials provided at: https://www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu/resources/educational_materials.asp

Level of Expertise
Advanced

Key Inputs

Economic and energy data

Case Studies

Examples of how Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) Model has helped people assessing the impacts of low-emission development strategies in countries and regions:

A paper describing an "Illustrative Scenario" can be downloaded here: https://www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu/resources/download/1203.pdf

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"The standard GTAP Model is a multiregion, multisector, computable general equilibrium model, with perfect competition and constant returns to scale. Innovative aspects of this model include:

• The treatment of private household preferences using the non-homothetic CDE functional form.
• The explicit treatment of international trade and transport margins. Bilateral trade is handled via the Armington assumption.
• A global banking sector which intermediates between global savings and consumption.
• The GTAP Model also gives users a wide range of closure options, including unemployment, tax revenue replacement and fixed trade balance closures, and a selection of partial equilibrium closures (which facilitate comparison of results to studies based on partial equilibrium assumptions)."