Introduction to Computable General Equilibrium Models

Computable general equilibrium (CGE) models play an important role in supporting public-policy making on such issues as trade, climate change and taxation. This significantly revised volume, keeping pace with the next-generation standard CGE model, is the only undergraduate-level introduction of its kind. The volume utilizes a graphical approach to explain the economic theory underlying a CGE model, and provides results from simple, small-scale CGE models to illustrate the links between theory and model outcomes. Its eleven hands-on exercises introduce modelling techniques that are applied to real-world economic problems. Students learn how to integrate their separate fields of economic study into a comprehensive, general equilibrium perspective as they develop their skills as producers or consumers of CGE-based analysis.

'Mary Burfisher is a gifted teacher and superb writer. With this book, she further establishes herself as the pre-eminent guide for those seeking an introduction to CGE analysis. Starting with a model of bicycle supply and demand, the reader's horizons are quickly expanded into an operational framework for policy analysis within an economy-wide framework. This revised edition brings readers up to the cutting edge of global economic analysis.' Thomas Hertel, Purdue University and founder of GTAP, 'This 3rd edition of Mary E. Burfisher's book arrives at a moment when COVID-19 is highlighting that economic structure matters, that economies are complex linked systems both domestically and internationally, and that large shocks quickly propagate throughout the system. CGE models are essential tools for analyzing and understanding large economic shocks. This 3rd edition provides an accessible introduction to CGE models and the insights that they generate into many of the most important issues confronting the world today.' Channing Arndt, International Food Policy Research Institute

Mary E. Burfisher is Senior Education Advisor at the Center for Global Trade Analysis at Purdue University and an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland Global Campus.