General Purpose Software for Intertemporal Modelling

Intertemporal modelling is becoming increasingly important in general equilibrium policy analysis. Issues such as natural resource management, pollution control, investment, the promotion of technical change, and the accumulation of foreign debt all involve explicit intertemporal behavior and thus require intertemporal models to address adequately. Applied researchers have been slow to adopt the intertemporal paradigm because it can impose formidable computational requirements. In this paper we address this problem by presenting flexible, efficient new software which can solve complex intertemporal models in a fraction of the time required by conventional approaches. Our intertemporal software is an extension of GEMPACK, a suite of general-purpose computer programs developed to streamline the implementation and solution of a wide class of applied partial or general equilibrium models. This paper describes GEMPACK's new intertemporal modelling capabilities which make it straightforward for modellers to implement and solve their models. Because GEMPACK operates on models written in a syntax similar to ordinary algebra, it is easy for researchers to revise their models whenever necessary. In summary, this new software removes the computational impediments to intertemporal modelling, thereby allowing modellers to concentrate on the economics of their models.