Matlab Script for a Theoretical Analysis of Policy Interventions to Stabilize Food Prices

This is a theoretical study which compares the cost-effectiveness of storage and trade-related policies to stabilize food prices in a two-country setting. The raw data is generated based on stochastical simulations with Matlab Scripts. This data is then analyzed to assess how policies impact the distribution of prices in the two countries.
Policies are storage and trade related.

The Download is a ZIP-File containing many Matlab files (.m).
For each scenario in the paper/dissertation, there are two Matlab files. The "_specs" file defines the specifications for the simulation (country size, ...), and the "_analysis" file is for the mathematical implementation (setting up the model, solving it, running the simulations).
The different scenarios include (for details see the linked doctoral thesis by Jan Brockhaus which provides more background information)
- "asymshocks": Asymmetric shocks between the two countries
- "defaultvalues": The different distinct and discrete scenarios described in the paper
- "privstorsubsidies": The continuous private storage subsidy
- "reservevariation": The simulations for the reserves with different parameters (reserve capacity and trigger price are varied)

All other files are required in the same folder for the calculations to run as these files are references in the ones mentioned above.
Furthermore, the RECS toolbox (http://www.recs-solver.org/) and the CompEcon Toolbox (http://www4.ncsu.edu/~pfackler/compecon/download.html) must be installed first before running any of the codes.

Purpose: Evaluating the cost-effectiveness of different policies to stabilize prices of staple crops.