LECTURER
Christoph Böhringer, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
Course Type: elective
Credits: 5 ECTS
Grading and assignment of ECTS credits:
Seminar Project (group work, based on GAMS-based policy analysis)
SCHEDULE
Date of the Course: July 28 – August 1, 2024
PREREQUISITES
All first year CDSE or equivalent courses.
COURSE CONTENT
The primary objective of the summer school is to get you acquainted with the applied economic impact assessment of regulatory policies. We will implement theoretical market equilibrium conditions into numerical models and parametrize these models with empirical data in order to investigate the economic effects of policy interventions ("Theory with numbers").
The canonical mathematical framework we will build upon is the so-called MCP format. MCP stands for mixed complementarity problems. The MCP framework phrases economic equilibrium conditions as a system of weak inequalities essentially constituting a mixture of equations (when weak inequalities become binding) and inequalities (when weak inequalities do not bind).
It explicitly incorporates the feature of complementary slackness (i.e., complementarity between economic decision variables and associated economic equilibrium conditions) enabling the comprehensive analysis of real world economic issues.
For the computer implementation of economic equilibrium models we will use the high-level programming language GAMS (Generalized Algebraic Modeling System), whose notation closely follows standard matrix algebra. The fundamental strength of GAMS lies in the ease with which mathematically defined models can be formulated and solved
COMPETENCES ACQUIRED
As part of the course, students will learn the programming language GAMS, which was specifically developed for economic optimization problems involving large datasets and is widely used by national and international research institutes as well as private consulting firms. Core GAMS skills will be taught in advance of the course through a "learn-it-yourself" package consisting of five units with slides and exercises.
Apply computer-based numerical simulations to study the effects of important energy and climate policy regulations.
Examine the economic implications of political requirements (e.g. coal phase-out) or exogenous shocks (e.g. supply reductions for gas) for the electricity supply.
FURTHER INFORMATION LITERATURE AND RECOMMENDED TEXTBOOKS)
You can also have a look at tutorials from the web:
