© Scott McDonald
CGE Modelling: Course Software
GAMS
The courses use the General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) software. The text editor used is GAMS Studio (included with the GAMS programme) and all data are handled using GAMS Data Exchange (GDX) and MS Excel.
The online courses require a licensed version of GAMS with at least the PATH and CONOPT solvers. We are grateful to the GAMS Corporation for providing time limited licenses for these courses; details are provided to all course participants.
The GAMS software, including a limited demo license, can be download from here. Please ensure you download the correct version for your PC.
Operating System
The instructions were developed using a PC with Windows. GAMS and GAMS Studio are defined as platform independent, i.e., we believe they operate with full functionality using MacOS and LINUX (see www.gams.com/download/ for details about operating system compatibility).
We have run some tests using the MacOS, during 2024, and had no problems with GAMS or Studio; some of Excel’s functionality available on Windows is not available on MacOS. We have not tested using LINUX OS.
Microsoft Office
The courses use MS Excel for providing (some) model data and for downloading results data MS Excel is very useful for tabulating and graphing model results. A word processor, e.g., MS Word, will be needed to complete the assignments.
MOODLE
MOODLE is accessed through the internet. During the courses participants will have access to all the course materials (course programme, video presentations, PowerPoint slide shows, various ‘how to’ guides, technical and teaching documents, practical (CGE and other) computer exercises, and GAMS libraries containing all the GAMS codes and databases used during the course) via the Moodle Cloud site.