With the launch of the GTAP project two decades ago it became possible for economists who are not specialists in AGE modeling to start using the general equilibrium approach for economic policy analysis, while at the same time avoiding the excessive costs of collecting data and programming. Not only the large number of citations of the first GTAP book documenting the standard GTAP model (Hertel 1997) but also the large number of individuals around the world using different versions of the framework and the database for policy research and analysis are testimony to the success of this project.

The GTAP network of researchers and analysts has been a key asset to the project: Members of the team not only benefited from the availability of data and advances in the modeling framework but also contributed models and data to the project. Knowledge generated by network members has been disseminated at annual conferences, and new ideas have been implemented quickly as the initial data and model lowered the costs of each new extension. In this respect GDyn is no different from other extensions of the GTAP model, although it did benefit substantially from the fact that there was a global database and standard model to start from.