Policy analysis and scenario planning using large scale economic models

When:

7th May 2015
9.30am–4.30pm

Where:

ANU Crawford School of Public Policy

Speakers:

Cost:

A$1,100

This course at The Australian National University’s Crawford School of Public Policy will give you an in-depth understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of global and national economic models used for policy evaluation, and show you how they can be used for policy analysis and scenario planning.

Course overview

The course will start with an historical overview of the history of multi-country model development and the current state of the art of global models. It will then focus on a relatively non-technical overview of the essential features of the G-Cubed model which is one of the world’s leading economic models used for macroeconomic, trade and climate policy evaluation. This model is also used extensively for scenario planning in major corporations.

The course will give insights into the nature of the G-Cubed multi-country model and outlines how in practice a model like the G-Cubed model is used for policy evaluation and scenario planning.

The course will also cover a number of published case studies in which the model gave important insights into complex policy problems that seemed counterintuitive until they occurred. These case studies include the Asian currency crisis of 1997/98, German Unification, the global consequences of NAFTA and the recent Global Financial Crisis. The course will also explore future scenarios using the model to explore the consequences of a possible Euro-zone crisis; the impacts (particularly on Australia) of fiscal adjustment in many advanced economies over coming decades and the impact of a decline in global productivity growth rates (secular stagnation).

Course convenor

Professor Warwick McKibbin

Professor Warwick McKibbin has a Chair in Public Policy in the ANU Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis (CAMA) in Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University (ANU). He is also an ANU Public Policy Fellow; a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences; a Distinguished Fellow of the Asia and Pacific Policy Society; a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C (where he is co-Director of the Climate and Energy Economics Project) and President of McKibbin Software Group Inc.

Professor McKibbin was Foundation Director of the ANU Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis and Foundation Director of the ANU Research School of Economics. He was also a Professorial Fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy for a decade from 2003 where he was involved in its design and development. Professor McKibbin served for a decade on the Board of the Reserve Bank of Australia until July 2011. He has also served as a member of the Australian Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, and on the Australian Prime Minister’s Taskforce on Uranium Mining Processing and Nuclear Energy in Australia.

Professor McKibbin received his B.Com (Honours 1) and University Medal from University of NSW (1980) and his AM (1984) and a PhD (1986) from Harvard University. He was awarded the Centenary medal in 2003 ‘For Service to Australian Society through Economic Policy and Tertiary Education’.

Professor McKibbin is internationally renowned for his contributions to global economic modeling. He has published more than 200 academic papers as well as being a regular commentator in the popular press. He has authored/ edited five books including Climate Change Policy after Kyoto: A Blueprint for a Realistic Approach with Professor Peter Wilcoxen of Syracuse University. He has been a consultant for many international agencies and a range of governments on issues of macroeconomic policy, international trade and finance, greenhouse policy issues, global demographic change and the economic cost of pandemics.

Course date: 9.30am–4.30pm 7 May 2015

Venue: #132 Crawford Building, Lennox Crossing, ANU

Enrol: T 02 6125 2154 E csee@anu.edu.au

Cost: A$1,100 GST incl; Group discounts applicable