Sim Overview

The Sim Overview page sets up the basic structure of the linked year-on-year sequences of simulations.

On this page you specify

•the year represented by the starting data -- see the box labelled Start from data for year.

•the number of periods (that is, simulations) for the Base Case.

•the lengths of these periods in years. The length of each period is shown in the drop-down list with label Lengths of Periods in years.

The three items above drive the years shown in the left-hand column on the Closure/Shocks page. [If you change any of the three items above, these years on the Closure/Shocks page will change.]

Examples will make this clear.

From Version 3.56 (August 2010), RunDynam also allows for quarterly or monthly models. These are models in which the lengths of the periods are measured in quarters or years respectively. RunDynam now has two check boxes, namely Use Quarters? and Use Months? which you can use to indicate these sorts of models. In either case you need to specify the quarter or month (as well as the year) represented by the Starting Data; that is also done on the Sim Overview page. For quarterly or monthly models, the strings shown in the left-hand column of the Closure/Shocks page reflect the year and quarter/month represented by the Starting Data and reflect the lengths of the periods. Examples will make this clear.

These items were changed in Version 3.14 (July 2006) of RunDynam. Prior to that version all periods were one year long and the information at the top of the Sim Overview page was slightly different.

Because RunDynam now allows individual simulations to cover one or more years, we use the word period to indicate the number of years covered by individual simulations. If one period covers more than one year,

•the years for which updated data will be produced will not be consecutive.

•the shocks specified in the relevant file on the Closure/Shocks page are those applied across the whole period (not each year during that period).

[Prior to Version 3.14, only the version of this software used with the Dynamic GTAP model allowed periods of more than one year. Now all versions of this software allow periods of more than one year.]

You also specify Sim Names of 3 characters. You should think of these as shorthand descriptions for one or more columns of the Closure/Shocks page. These Sim Names are very important since they affect many aspects of the way in which RunDynam operates. Click here to find out more.

You can save or load Simulation Details.

You can Omit Some Periods at the Start. [Note that if you want to omit some periods at the start, you should use the Omit Some Periods at Start button on the Sim Overview page. You should not attempt to do that by reducing the number of periods and the year represented by the starting data.]

You can edit the Simulation Description.

You must also specify the Working Directory. This is the directory in which files produced during the forecast and deviation are placed. All Closure and Shocks files (as specified on the Closure/Shock page) and their constituent files must also be in this directory.

You must also specify a Mapping File for Results. This contains the names of the variables whose results you wish to see in the spreadsheets RunDynam produces as results of the forecast or deviation. [This text file just contains the names of these variables, one per line.]

You must specify the Solution Method to be used each time the model is solved. RunDynam allows an alternative solution method to be used for some years.

For information about the buttons Run Base Case, Rerun Base, Run Policy and Run All which are always visible near the bottom of the screen, see Run Buttons.

URL of this topic: www.copsmodels.com/webhelp/rundynam/hc_simoverview.htm

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