UN-DESA • MIDEPLAN • UNDP Costa Rica

Training workshop
San José, Costa Rica
28 May -1 June 2012

The second training workshop on "Strengthening Macroeconomic and Social Policy Coherence through Integrated Macro-Micro Modelling" was successfully conducted by DPAD, in close collaboration with UNDP's Office in Costa Rica and the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy (MIDEPLAN), on 28 May – 1 June 2012, in San Jose, Costa Rica.

The activities were attended by a group of 12 participants representing the Ministries of Planning, Finance, Education and Health, the Central Bank, the National Institute of Statistics, and the University of Costa Rica.

During the workshop DPAD:

• reviewed the main functions of the MAMS (Maquette for MDG Simulations)
• presented a newly constructed Costa Rican Social Accounting Matrix for 2005 and the steps UN-DESA staff had taken to built it and adapt it for MAMS
• presented the state of the MAMS dataset and agreed on steps to complete it
• described the file structure of MAMS and how this model was run in GAMS
• described ISIM-MAMS (i.e. an Excel-based interface) and how it could be installed and used to run MAMS scenarios
• generated external-shocks and policy simulations through practical exercises
• discussed policy issues that would be addressed through policy simulations in order to elaborate policy notes
• explained a microsimulation approach and how it could be implemented in STATA to compute poverty and inequality indicators using results from MAMS