A Micro-Macro Model for South Africa: Building and Linking a Microsimulation Model to a CGE Model

This paper describes a newly-built micro-macro model for South Africa. A computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and a microsimulation (MS) model are combined in a sequential approach in order to build an effective tool to assess the effects of various macroeconomic policies and shocks on South African households. The CGE model is used to simulate the macro-changes in the structure of the economy after the policy change or the macro-shock. In a second step, these changes are passed on to the MS model. Micro-macro consistency equations, along with the direct transmission of prices, ensure that macro-changes are fully transmitted from the CGE to the MS model. Given any change in the macroeconomic structure of the economy predicted by the CGE model, the MS model predicts how individual agents modify their behaviours and how their incomes are affected, while accounting for individual heterogeneity.