Optimal regional economic policies using computable general equilibrium models

The regional economics literature was reviewed to select an appropriate modelling style for the economy of Alberta, Canada. Despite its infrequent use in regional economics, computable general equilibrium (CGE) modelling was selected as the most appropriate style for this small, regional economy dependent upon resources. A series of progressively more sophisticated techniques have been employed in the study to demonstrate the usefulness of CGE modelling in regional economics.;After considering the question of whether traditional CGE analysis techniques are simply a special case of modelling using control theory techniques, a small non-linear model of Alberta was built and analyzed using traditional and control theory constructions. The purposes of this analysis were to demonstrate the usefulness of CGE techniques in regional economics and to give support to the proposition that traditional techniques are subsumed by optimal control techniques.;The small CGE of Alberta was made linear to allow consideration of uncertainty and some preliminary explorations were made into stochastic models. An existing computer program for stochastic control models was extended to allow conversion from structural CGE models into reduced form for stochastic control and the results of a simple stochastic experiment were discussed.