Uncovering the Factors behind Comparative Regional Economic Performance: A Dynamic CGE Approach

Recently a new method has emerged for uncovering the factors driving regional disparities in growth performance. The method involves historical analysis with a multiregional computable general equilibrium model. This paper has three main aims. The first is to demonstrate the capacity of the CGE historical technique to decompose the causes of regional divergence into clearly-specified economic factors. The second is to provide a generic miniature model that can be used as a template for adapting any multiregional CGE model to give it the capacity for undertaking historical analysis. The third is to demonstrate that this same miniature model can be used to explain the regional results in terms of the major model mechanisms behind them.