GTAP Data Bases: GTAP 8 Data Base

What is the GTAP 8 Data Base?
The centerpiece of the Global Trade Analysis Project is the GTAP Data Base, a fully documented, publicly available global data base which contains complete bilateral trade information, transport and protection linkages. The GTAP Data Base is utilized by thousands worldwide and is a key input into contemporary applied general equilibrium analysis of global economic issues. The current release, the GTAP 8 Data Base, boasts dual reference years of 2004 and 2007 as well as 129 regions for all 57 GTAP commodities.

The GTAP Data Base is most commonly used with the GTAP Model and RunGTAP software. First, the user must aggregate the data (regions, commodities and endowments) using the GTAPAgg (or FlexAgg) program provided with the data base to the desired level and then use with the GTAP or GTAPinGams model/s to analyze the impact of global policies (trade, environmental, migration policies are commonly examined). Alternatively a user may be interested in extracting country SAMs or I-O tables from the GTAP Data Base for single country models. If you are interested in these alternative uses of the GTAP Data Base, we suggest you read through the points detailed on this page about what GTAP Data Base is not.

What's New in GTAP 8?

• Dual reference years: 2004 and 2007
• Additional regional disaggregation: 129 regions and 57 sectors

  Newly added regions: Bahrain, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, El Salvador, Ghana, Honduras, Israel, Kenya, Kuwait, Mongolia, Namibia, Nepal, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates

  Updated/Improved regions: Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, Switzerland, Thailand, Uganda, Venezuela and Zimbabwe

• New macro-economic data for 2004 and 2007
• New trade data for 2004 and 2007
• New protection data for 2007
• New Time-Series Bilateral Trade data from 1995-2009
• Improved bilateral services trade data for 2004 and 2007
• Improved energy data for 2004 and 2007
• Revised OECD domestic support for 2004 and 2007
• New export subsidies data for 2007
• Revised treatment of taxes in the agricultural and energy sectors
• Additional information on contributed I-O tables
• Decomposition of tariff (into ad valorem and specific) and OECD domestic support payments data (into different types of payments based on the extent of decoupling and base)
• CO2 emissions dataset integrated into core data base

What is included in the GTAP 8 Data Base?
Purchasers of the GTAP 8 Data Base will receive electronic access to the following:

• GTAP 8 Data Base Documentation (Reported Issues and Patches)


• GTAP 8 GTAPAgg Package - Patches  Free Demo Version
  GTAPAgg is a software package developed by Mark Horridge at the Centre of Policy Studies, for use in creating aggregated data bases from the fully disaggregated GTAP Data Base. Nearly all applications of the GTAP Model use an aggregation of the data base. The software helps you prepare an aggregation scheme, then uses your scheme to prepare an aggregated data base for the GTAP Model, as well as aggregated time-series and GTAPView data. The GTAPAgg Package includes an encrypted version of the latest release of the GTAP Data Base. Please note that the main data file in the GTAPAgg package, basedata.hrx, is encrypted. It can only be used with GTAPAgg since decryption is performed together with the aggregation.


• GTAP 8 FlexAgg Package
  FlexAgg is a command-line aggregation program for use in creating aggregated data bases from the fully disaggregated GTAP Data Base. The FlexAgg program performs the same task as the GTAPAgg program. However, GTAPAgg has a user friendly windows interface, while FlexAgg uses a batch file to run a series of GEMPACK executable files. For most users of the GTAP Data Base, the GTAPAgg program, with its user friendly windows interface, is both easier to use and sufficient for most purposes. In some special cases however, experienced users may want to modify the GTAP Data Base and use the FlexAgg program to aggregate their modified data.

New Users
GTAP 8 Data Base Documentation chapters 1 and 2 are particularly useful for new users to see how what is included in the GTAP Data Base and how it was structured. The GTAP Data Base is designed to be used with the GTAP Model. If you are interested in learning more, we suggest applying up for an upcoming GTAP Short Course or working through the vast materials on the website by reviewing our "Getting Started with GTAP" page.

Additional resources:

1. Introduction to the Global Trade Analysis Project and the GTAP Data Base, GTAP Working Paper No. 67
2. Deriving a Global Social Accounting Matrix, GTAP Technical Paper No. 22
3. RunGTAP and Hands-on Computing with RunGTAP and WinGEM To Introduce GTAP and GEMPACK (See section A detailing how to use the GTAP Data Base with the GTAP Model and RunGTAP
4. Assistance: see Technical Support section

The GTAP Data Base is NOT

• a repository of Input-Output tables. The GTAP Data Base is a consistent representation of the world economy in the year base of the current version. Underlying the data base there are national input-output tables, trade, macroeconomic, and protection data from several sources. The underlying input-output tables are heterogeneous in sources, base years, and sectoral detail, thus for achieving consistency, substantial efforts are made to make the disparate sources comparable. For these reasons, the objective of the GTAP Data Base is not to provide IO tables, but to facilitate the operation of economic simulation models ensuring users a consistent set of economic facts. Some users interested in particular SAM use utilities written by researchers in the network to extract them. Users building IO tables based on this information do that under their own risk, and are assumed to understand the limitations imposed by the process of data base construction.


• a repository of time series on economic data. Except for trade data, the GTAP Data Base is a cross-section of consistent data on consumption, production, and trade. Some users assume that binding together different versions of the data base will give them time-series variation. The users considering to do this are strongly encouraged to get familiar with the processes underlying the construction of the GTAP Data Base, and to take into account that for many countries, the underlying IO tables do not change from version to version --- most of the variability comes from adjustment processes based on macroeconomic/trade changes.


• a relational data base of economic variables. Users interested in economic data only for comparative purposes are better served by sources such as the World bank Development Indicators, the IMF's financial statistics, or the FAO's agricultural statistics, to name a few. The data in the GTAP Data Base accurately depicts the magnitudes of economic variables, but they are presented in terms of the aggregates that serve CGE modeling.

Minimum Installation Requirements
Hard disk with at least 256 Mb of RAM, Microsoft Windows 98, 2000, XP, Vista, 7

Technical Support
GTAP Network members in need of technical support are encouraged to use the following avenues to request assistance. General, non-technical inquiries may be addressed to contactgtap@purdue.edu.

• GTAP FAQs
  The Center for Global Trade Analysis maintains a searchable repository of frequently asked questions on many different aspects of GTAP.


• GTAP Support Email
  gtapsupport@purdue.edu is an account monitored by the Center for Global Trade Analysis' data team. Network members can email to reach a GTAP staff member for technical support on any GTAP product.


• GTAP-L Mailing List
  GTAP-L is an email-based list to which many members of the GTAP Network subscribe in order to receive updates on the GTAP Data Base, model, events, jobs and technical assistance. For further information, to subscribe or to access a searchable archive of GTAP-L messages, please visit the GTAP-L Mailing List homepage

Presentations on GTAP Data Base

Interested in receiving the GTAP Data Base for free?
A free copy of the GTAP Data Base is available to individuals who contribute an acceptable Input-Output table to the GTAP Data Base. Contributors receive a copy of the GTAP Data Base to which they contributed as well as access to all interim releases, via a secured website.