# Model API¶

For numerical purposes, models are essentially represented as a set of symbols, calibration and functions representing the various equation types of the model. This data is held in a NumericalModel object whose API is described in this chapter. Models are usually created by writing a Yaml files as described in the the previous chapter, but as we will see below, they can also be written directly.

## Numerical Model Object¶

As previously, let’s consider, the Real Business Cycle example, from the introduction. The model object can be created using the yaml file:

model = yaml_import('models/rbc.yaml')


The object contains few meta-data:

display( model.name )  # -> Real Business Cycles
display( model.model_type )   # -> dtmscc
display( model.model_specs )   # -> (f,g,v)


The model.name field contains a possibly long string identifying the model. The model_type field is either 'dtmscc', 'dtcscc' or 'dynare' depending on the convention used. The 'model.model_features' field summarizes which equations types are provided which determines the solution algorithms that can be used to solve the model. Here (f,g,v) means that arbitrage (short f), transition (short g) and value equations were provided meaning that time-iteration or value function iteration can both be used to solve the model. When using a yaml files, the model_type and model_specs properties are automatically set.

The various attributes of the model directly echoe the the sections from the Yaml file.

### Symbols¶

Symbols are held in the model.symbols dictionary, with each symbol type mapping to a list of symbol strings, that will be used in equations. Although these symbols are not needed stricto sensu for computations, they are very useful to calibrate the steady-state or to label the graphs and simulations

display(model.symbols)


Note

Although dictionaries read from the yaml file are unordered, the structure representing them in Python is actually an OrderedDict rather than a dict object. This is to allow for more predictability and conistency in outputs. The order is conventional and the keys are ordered after the list ‘variables, states, controls, auxiliaries, values, parameters’ (missing types are omitted from the list).

### Calibration¶

Each models stores a calibration dictionary as model.calibration. This one consists in an OrderedDictionary, with the same keys as the model.symbols dictionary. The values are vectors (1d numpy arrays) of values for each symbol group. For instance the following code will print the calibrated values of the parameters:

print( zip( model.symbols['parameters'], model.calibration['parameters'] ) )


It is possible to get the value of one or many symbols, using the .get_calibration method:

display( model.get_calibration('k')) #  ->  2.9

display( model.get_calibration( ['k', 'delta'] ))  #  -> [2.9, 0.08]


The solution routines, look up at the values in model.calibration to evaluate parameters or steady-state values. In order to change these values it is not recommended to modify these values though. It is preferable to use the model.set_calibration() routine instead. This one takes either a dict as an argument, or a set of keyword arguments. Both calls are valid:

model.set_calibration( {'delta':0.01} )

model.set_calibration( delta=0.08, k=2.8 )


This method also understands symbolic expressions (as string) which makes it possible to define symbols as a function of other symbols:

model.set_calibration(beta='1/(1+delta)')
print(model.get_calibration('beta'))   # -> nan

model.set_calibration(delta=0.04)
print(model.get_calibration(['beta', 'delta'])) # -> [0.96, 0.04]


Under the hood, the method stores the symbolic relations between symbols. It is precisely equivalent to use the set_calibration method or to change the values in the yaml files. In particular, the calibration order is irrelevant as long as all parameters can be deduced one from another.

### Functions¶

A model of a specific type can feature various kinds of functions. For instance, a continuous-states-continuous-controls models, solved by iterating on the Euler equations may feature a transition equation $$g$$ and an arbitrage equation $$f$$. Their signature is respectively $$s_t=g(s_{t-1},x_{t-1},e_t)$$ and $$E_t[f(s_t,x_t,s_{t+1},x_{t+1})]$$, where $$s_t$$, $$x_t$$ and $$e_t$$ respectively represent a vector of states, controls and shocks. Implicitly, all functions are also assumed to depend on the vector of parameters $$p$$.

These functions can be accessed by their type in the model.functions dictionary:

g = model.functions['transition']
f = model.functions['arbitrage']


Let’s call the arbitrage function on the steady-state value, to see the residuals at the deterministic steady-state:

s = model.calibration['states']
x = model.calibration['controls']
p = model.calibration['parameters']
res = f(s,x,s,x,p)
display(res)


The output (res) is two element vector, representing the residuals of the two arbitrage equations at the steady-state. It should be full of zero. Is it ? Great !

By inspecting the arbitrage function ( f? ), one can see that its call api is:

f(s,x,S,X,p,diff=False,out=None)


Since s and x are the short names for states and controls, their values at date $$t+1$$ is denoted with S and X. This simple convention prevails in most of dolo source code: when possible, vectors at date t are denoted with lowercase, while future vectors are with upper case. We have already commented the presence of the paramter vector p. Now, the generated functions also gives the option to perform in place computations, when an output vector is given:

out = numpy.ones(2)
f(s,x,s,x,p,out)   # out now contains zeros


It is also possible to compute derivatives of the function by setting diff=True. In that case, the residual and jacobians with respect to the various arguments are returned as a list:

r, r_s, r_x, r_S, r_X = f(s,x,s,x,p,diff=True)


Since there are two states and two controls, the variables r_s, r_x, r_S, r_X are all 2 by 2 matrices.

The generated functions also allow for efficient vectorized evaluation. In order to evaluate the residuals $$N$$ times, one needs to supply matrix arguments, instead of vectors, so that each line corresponds to one value to evaluate as in the following example:

N = 10000

vec_s = s[None,:].repeat(N, axis=0) # we repeat each line N times
vec_x = x[None,:].repeat(N, axis=0)
vec_X = X[None,:].repeat(N, axis=0)
vec_p = p[None,:].repeat(N, axis=0)
vec_s[:,0] = linspace(2,4,N) # we provide various guesses for the steady-state capital
vec_S = vec_s

out = f(vec_s,vec_x,vec_S,vec_X,vec_p)  # now a 10000 x 2 array

out, out_s, out_x, out_S, out_X = f(vec_s,vec_x,vec_S,vec_X,vec_p)


The vectorized evaluation is optimized so that it is much faster to make a vectorized call rather than iterate on each point. By default, this is achieved by using the excellent numexpr library.

Note

In the preceding example, the parameters are constant for all evaluations, yet they are repeated. This is not mandatory, and the call f(vec_s, vec_x, vec_S, vec_X, p) should work exactly as if p had been repeated along the first axis. We follow there numba’s guvectorize conventions, even though they slightly differ from numpy’s ones.

### Distribution and markov_chain objects¶

Mixed states and continuous states models specify the structure of the stochastic innovations using a markov chain or a covariance matrix respectively. These are accessed in the model.covariances and model.exogenous respectively. If not relevant, these structures are set to None. A covariance matrix, is a square array, with as the number of rows given by the number of shocks. A Markov chain is a list, where the the first element enumerates values taken by discrete states, line by line, while the second element holds the stochastic matrix whose element $$i,j$$ is the probability to jump from the i-th state to the j-th one.

### Options structure¶

The model.options structure holds an information required by a particular solution method. For instance, for global methods, model.options['grid'] is supposed to hold the boundaries and the number nodes at which to interpolate.

display( model.options['grid'] )


## Source documentation¶

### Model¶

class dolo.compiler.model.Model(data)

Attributes

 calibration definitions domain equations exogenous infos name options symbols variables x_bounds

Methods

 eval_formula get_calibration get_domain get_exogenous get_grid residuals set_calibration set_changed`