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A New Graphical User Interface Generator for Economic Models and its Comparison to Existing Approaches

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  • Britz, Wolfgang

Abstract

The paper discusses the role of Graphical User Inter-faces in economic modelling and specifically the de-velopment of a new Graphical User Interface Genera-tor for applications realized in GAMS (General Alge-braic Modelling System), a widely used Algebraic Modelling Language for (bio-)economic simulation models. It motivates the development of GGIG (Gams Graphical Interface Generator) by reviewing existing approaches. In opposite to frameworks available for environmental and Agent Based Modelling, GUI ge-nerators for more classical economic models seem to be scarce. GGIG aims at a fast development process not requiring programming skills where simple user operable controls are defined in an XML file such that GAMS based projects can add easily a GUI. It com-prises quite versatile exploitation tools for interactive reporting (tables, graphs and maps) including a ma-chine learning package plus useful utilities, e.g. to generate a HTML based GAMS code documentation or batch execution. In opposite to other approaches, GGIG strictly separates the GUI and GAMS code, but does not offer IDE functionality. Applications to CAPRI, a rather complex model, and some smaller projects seem to show that researchers without formal programming training are able to develop and modify a GUI for their models, while model users can be quickly trained in GGIG based GUIs.Der Aufsatz diskutiert die Bedeutung Grafischer Benutzeroberflächen in der ökonomischen Modellie-rung, insbesondere die Entwicklung eines neues Werkzeugs zur Erstellung Grafischer Oberflächen für Anwendungen basierend auf GAMS (General Algebraic Modelling System), einer weitverbreiteten Algebraischen Modellierungssprache für (bio-)öko-nomische Simulationsmodelle. Er motiviert die Ent-wicklung von GGIG (Gams Graphical Interface Ge-nerator) vor dem Hintergrund eines Überblicks alter-nativer Ansätze. Im Gegensatz zu bestehenden Pro-grammiergerüsten für umwelt- oder agentenbasierte Modellierung scheinen nur wenige Werkzeuge zur Erstellung von Benutzeroberflächen klassischer öko-nomischer Modelle verfügbar zu sein. GGIG zielt auf einen schnellen Entwicklungsprozess, der keine Kenntnisse in der Programmierung voraussetzt und auf der Definition einfacher Bedienelemente in einer XML-Datei basiert, wodurch sich ohne großen Auf-wand eine Nutzeroberfläche zu einem GAMS-Projekt erstellen lässt. GGIG enthält darüber hinaus recht vielseitige Instrumente zur Erzeugung interaktiver Ergebnisauswertungen (Tabellen, Grafiken und Kar-ten) einschließlich eines Paketes maschineller Lern-verfahren sowie zusätzlich Dienstprogramme, z.B. zur Erstellung einer HTML basierten Dokumentation des GAMS-Codes oder zur Batchausführung. Im Gegen-satz zu anderen Ansätzen trennt GGIG klar zwischen dem GAMS-Code und der Nutzeroberfläche, bietet dafür aber auch keine Funktionen einer Integrierten Entwicklungsumgebung an. Die Anwendung von GGIG in CAPRI, einem recht komplexen Modellsys-tem, und einigen kleineren Projekten legen es nahe, dass Forscher ohne formale Programmierkenntnisse mittels GGIG Benutzeroberflächen für ihre Modellen entwickeln und pflegen können, während Modellan-wender sich schnell in die Nutzung der Oberflächen einarbeiten.

Suggested Citation

  • Britz, Wolfgang, 2014. "A New Graphical User Interface Generator for Economic Models and its Comparison to Existing Approaches," German Journal of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Department for Agricultural Economics, vol. 63(04), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:gjagec:253198
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.253198
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    Cited by:

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    2. Britz, Wolfgang & van der Mensbrugghe, Dominique, 2017. "A flexible, modular and extendable framework for CGE analysis in GAMS," Conference papers 332918, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    3. Klaus Mittenzwei, 2020. "Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Norwegian Agriculture: The Regional and Structural Dimension," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-13, March.
    4. Mössinger, Johannes & Troost, Christian & Berger, Thomas, 2022. "Bridging the gap between models and users: A lightweight mobile interface for optimized farming decisions in interactive modeling sessions," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    5. Klaus Mittenzwei & Wolfgang Britz, 2018. "Analysing Farm‐specific Payments for Norway using the Agrispace Model," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(3), pages 777-793, September.
    6. Britz, Wolfgang & Ciaian, Pavel & Gocht, Alexander & Kanellopoulos, Argyris & Kremmydas, Dimitrios & Müller, Marc & Petsakos, Athanasios & Reidsma, Pytrik, 2021. "A design for a generic and modular bio-economic farm model," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    7. Ferrari, Emanuele & Roson, Roberto Britz, Wolfgang & Britz, Wolfgang & Dudu, Hasan, 2019. "An extented myGTAP model to address subsistence production and sub-national households as a module in CGEBox," Conference papers 333059, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    8. Wolfgang Britz & Hasan Dudu & Ilaria Fusacchia & Yaghoob Jafari & Roberto Roson & Luca Salvatici & Martina Sartori, 2019. "Economy-wide analysis of food waste reductions and related costs," JRC Research Reports JRC113395, Joint Research Centre.

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