The thesis contains three independent essays on policy modelling. In all three, a numerical dynamic general equilibrium framework is used to discuss methodological advances in regional economic modelling and to analyse specific policies for the economies of Sardinia, Scotland and the United Kingdom respectively. In the first essay, I present a stylized regional intertemporal forward-looking model able to take into account regional economic features. Furthermore, I discuss some of the objections to myopic models, such as the presumed lack of capital adjustment and the differences in the long-run steady-state results between myopic and forward- looking models. I show that properly specified myopic and forward looking models produce identical results in the long run, in contrast to claims in some of the literature in this area. In the second essay I investigate the impact of a balanced budget fiscal policy expansion. I take Scotland as an example where, recently, there has been extensive debate on greater fiscal autonomy. In response to a balanced budget fiscal expansion the model suggests the following results. First, an increase in current government purchases of goods and services has negative multiplier effects only if the elasticity of substitution between private and public consumption is high enough to reduce the marginal utility of private consumers. Second, public capital expenditure crowds in consumption and investment even with a high level of congestion. Third, crowding out effects might arise in the short-run if agents are myopic. CGE modelling techniques have been widely used in the literature to examine the rebound effect in an economy wide context. However, most of the studies focus on economy-wide rebound from an energy efficiency improvement on the production side of the economy. In the third essay, I present simulation results for an improvement in energy efficiency in the household sector which is a clear example of a demand side shock where households take all prices as given and with limited supply side effects.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:570689 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Lecca, Patrizio |
| Publisher | University of Strathclyde |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://oleg.lib.strath.ac.uk:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=16831 |
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