Title: Empowering the modelling for Policy with the 2015 Social Accounting Matrix for Tanzania
URL: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC135413
Year: 2024
Authors: El Meligi, A; Ferreira, V; Nechifor, V; Boysen, O; Ferrari, E
Abstract: A Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) is a comprehensive and economy-wide database that records data on all transactions taking place in an economy over a specific period, typically one year. The SAM serves two primary objectives. Firstly, it presents the economic structure and interrelationships among economic agents in the region under analyses. Secondly, it provides a database for analysing the economy’s performance and simulating the effects of policy interventions through multisectoral linear models and computable general equilibrium (CGE) models. This report presents the 2015 SAM for Tanzania, offering a suitable database for implementing and evaluating the country's social and economic policies. The report outlines how to pass from a standard structure of the SAM to a detailed scheme by explaining all the accounts included, and covering key aspects of its construction and estimation. Considering the characteristics of the Tanzanian economy, this SAM shows a special structure to reflect the Home Production for Home Consumption (HPHC) issue and a high disaggregation of the agricultural sector. Furthermore, this SAM presents a high level of disaggregation by encompassing labour and household characteristics, considering regions, gender rural and urban areas, as well as quintiles. The SAM is used as a database to perform a descriptive analysis of the Tanzanian economy.
