Estimates of Armington parameters for a landlocked economy

One of the most debated issues in the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) literature concerns the validity of the key behavioral parameters used in the calibration process. CGE modelers seldom estimate those parameters, preferring to borrow from the handful of estimates available in the literature. The lack of data is often cited as a reason for this type of modus operandi (technique). Estimating key parameters is very crucial since CGE results are quite sensitive to parameter specification. This paper proposes a new and robust econometric technique, the Generalized Maximum Entropy (GME), to estimate Armington elasticities for selected commodities. All the parameters estimated are intended for use in a Lesotho CGE model.