An Overview of the GTAP 9 Data Base

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) Data Base and its latest release, version 9. The GTAP Data Base has been used in thousands of economy-wide analyses over the past twenty-five years. While initially focused on supporting trade policy analysis, the addition of satellite accounts pertaining to greenhouse gas emissions and land use has resulted in a surge of applications relating to climate change as well as other environmental issues. The Data Base comprises an exhaustive set of accounts measuring the value of annual flows of goods and services with regional and sectoral detail for the entire world economy. These flows include bilateral trade, transport, and protection matrices that link individual country/regional economic datasets. Version 9 disaggregates 140 regions, 57 sectors, 8 factors of production, for 3 base years (2004, 2007 and 2011). The great success enjoyed by this Data Base stems from the collaboration efforts by many parties interested in improving the quality of economic analysis of global policy issues related to trade, economic development, energy and the environment.