RURDS Vol. 15, No. 1, March 2003

© The Applied Regional Science Conference (ARSC) / Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2003.Published by Blackwell Publishing.

FROM THE MANAGING EDITOR

EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS WITH CGE MODELS

There is increasing need for deregulating conventional policies and introducing innova-tive policy changes in environmental and other other urban and regional areas where impactsare not limited to a single market. The computable general equilibrium model approach, whichsurvived a long process of methodological development, is highly useful in evaluating struc-tural policy changes.

The extent of the value of CGE modeling was made clear in the overwhelming responseto our call for papers. Due to space limitation, we have extended our focus on CGE articles tothe July issue as well. Our since thanks to the authors who submitted manuscripts, and to themany referees who offered useful comments.

The five articles in this issue were chosen based on the diversity of application and regionto which the CGE model is applied. The first, by James Giesecke and John Madden, presents adynamic, large-scale multiregional CGE model designed for forecasting, policy analysis andhistorical analysis.

Next, Roberto Roson assesses the impact of carbon taxation for the Italian economy. Hecomplements the carbon taxation with a tax cut on labor or capital. Roson suggests that theresults do not support the notion of a double-dididend when labor taxes are reduced, but thata lower capital tax rate has some positive effects on growth and welfare.

The third paper, by Ashish Rana, assesses the role of renewable energy in mitigating car-bon dioxide emissions in India. He concludes that a carbon tax can achieve a reduction in suchemissions.

Manuel Cardenete and Ferran Sancho then use an applied general equilibrium model toassess the impact of national tax changes on the regional economy of Andalusia, Spain. Theysuggest that tax reforms are not self-financing, and that while they bring positive economicstimulus to Andalusia, their benefits are smaller than expected.

The fifth article, by Euijune Kim and Jaeuk Ju, is an analysis of the growth and distribu-tional impacts of urban housing supply in Seoul. The authors present the case in which hous-ing development, with conversion of green or industrial land, increases gross regional product.

We hope you find all five articles in this issue, and the ones forthcoming, valuable read-ing, and welcome your comments.

Masayuki DoiManaging Editor