User`s guide to the META-Net economic modeling system. Version 1.2

In a market economy demands for commodities are met through various technologies and resources. Markets select the technologies and resources to meet these demands based on their costs. Over time, the competitiveness of different technologies can change due to the exhaustion of resources they depend on, the introduction of newer, more efficient technologies, or even shifts in user demands. As this happens, the structure of the economy changes. The Market Equilibrium and Technology Assessment Network Modelling System, META{center_dot}Net, has been developed for building and solving multi-period equilibrium models to analyze the shifts in the energy system that may occur as new technologies are introduced and resources are exhausted. META{center_dot}Net allows a user to build and solve complex economic models. It models` a market economy as a network of nodes representing resources, conversion processes, markets, and end-use demands. Commodities flow through this network from resources, through conversion processes and market, to the end-users. META{center_dot}Net then finds the multiperiod equilibrium prices and quantities. The solution includes the prices and quantities demanded for each commodity along with the capacity additions (and retirements) for each conversion process, and the trajectories of resource extraction. Although the changes in the economy are largely driven by consumers` behavior and the costs of technologies and resources, they are also affected by various government policies. These can include constraints on prices and quantities, and various taxes and constraints on environmental emissions. META{center_dot}Net can incorporate many of these mechanisms and evaluate their potential impact on the development of the economic system