Undergraduate Teaching Tools for Computable General Equilibrium Models

经济学（82）本项目正在为高级本科经济学学生开发基于技术的学习材料。 该项目将向学生介绍一类经济模型，在过去的25年中，该模型在经济发展，公共财政，贸易政策和其他主题的应用经济分析中得到了广泛的应用。 项目目标是加强和整合学生的经济理论知识，并提供机会，通过使用可计算一般均衡（CGE）模型将其应用于现实世界的经济问题。CGE模型是一种适用于整个经济的分析工具，为模拟受一国收入和支出、储蓄和投资以及资本和经常账户的宏观经济平衡约束的消费者和生产者的微观经济行为提供了一个理论上一致的框架。 CGE模型已成为经济学专业，特别是政府部门广泛使用的政策分析工具。例如，这些模型的第一批政府用途之一是提供关于1993年颁布的北美自由贸易协定的成本和收益的见解。最近可用的直观建模软件CGE模型和模型数据库的可访问性越来越大，创造了一个机会，使用模型作为学习工具，在本科课堂上。这些进步使学生能够相对快速地学习CGE建模的机制，使他们能够专注于他们正在研究的经济体的结构和行为。 在这个项目中，正在开发八个相互关联的模块，侧重于计算一般均衡模型的不同方面，包括生产、消费、国际贸易和金融、公共财政理论，以及国民收入和产品账户数据。每个模块都希望通过提供关于主题理论和关键概念的背景和复习材料来加强学生的经济学知识。正在开发的模块包括旨在将CGE模型开发为经济学实验室的实践作业，学生可以在其中可视化并学习控制理论衍生的微观经济行为，创建相关场景，如税收变化或生产率增长，进行预测，并学习解释结果。多部门开放经济模式的复杂性要求学生在识别与实验相关的结果时进行区分。结果的解释要求学生理解驱动生产者和消费者行为的基本原则。最终，学生学会采用一般均衡的观点来充分解释他们的结果。在这个过程中，学生学习整合经济理论的不同领域的知识，并在现实环境中认识经济行为。 形成性评估和课程修订是由学生在与数据分析，情景开发和结果解释相关的作业中的表现驱动的;他们在主要研究论文和演示中的表现;以及他们对学习材料有效性的主观评估。USNA的教职员工正在对课程材料进行beta测试，作为另一个评估来源。而检视学生的表现及问卷回应，则有助于形成性评核及总结性评核本计划所发展的学习材料的成效。

Economics (82)This project is developing technology-based learning materials for advanced undergraduate economics students. The project will introduce students to a class of economic model that over the past 25 years has gained widespread use in applied economic analysis of economic development, public finance, trade policy, and other topics. Project goals are to strengthen and integrate student knowledge of economic theory, and provide opportunities to apply it to real-world economic problems through the use of computable general equilibrium (CGE) models. CGE models are applied, economy-wide analytical tools that provide a theoretically consistent framework for simulating the microeconomic behavior of consumers and producers constrained by the macroeconomic equilibrium of a country's income and expenditure, savings and investment, and capital and current accounts. CGE models have become a widely used tool for policy analysis in the economics profession, and particularly in government. For example, one of the first government uses of these models was to provide insights on the costs and benefits of the North American Free Trade Agreement enacted in 1993. The recent availability of intuitive modeling software for CGE models and the growing accessibility of model databases have created an opportunity to use the models as a learning tool in the undergraduate classroom. These advances allow students to learn the mechanics of CGE modeling relatively quickly, freeing them to focus on the structure and behavior of the economies that they are studying. In this project, eight interrelated modules are being developed that focus on different aspects of a CGE model, including the theory of production, consumption, international trade and finance, and public finance, and the data of national income and product accounts. Each module is expected to reinforce students' prior economics knowledge by providing background and review material on the topic's theory and key concepts. Modules are being developed to include hands-on assignments designed to develop the CGE model as an economics laboratory in which students can visualize and learn to control theoretically-derived microeconomic behavior, create relevant scenarios such as tax changes or productivity growth, make predictions, and learn to interpret results. The complexity of a multi-sector, open economy model challenges students to discriminate in identifying results that are relevant to the experiment. Interpretation of results requires students to understand the underlying principles driving producer and consumer behavior. Eventually, students learn to employ a general equilibrium perspective to fully explain their results. In this process, students learn to integrate their knowledge of different areas of economic theory and to recognize economic behavior in a realistic setting. Formative assessment and curriculum revisions are being driven by student performance on assignments related to data analysis, scenario development, and interpretation of results; their performance on a major research paper and presentation; and their subjective assessments of the effectiveness of the learning materials. USNA faculty members are beta-testing the course materials as another source of assessment. and reviewin g students' performance and survey responses contributes to formative assessment and to a summative assessment of the effectiveness of the learning materials developed in this project.