Browsing by Author "Whittaker, John"

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    Alternative monetary regimes : are they operational?
    (1990) Schnadt, Norbert; Whittaker, John
    Although the proposed alternative monetary regimes have received critical attention from White (1984), McCallum (1985), O' Driscoll ( 1987) and Hoover ( 1988), we are not aware of any systematic and coherent critical appraisal. The main motivation for this paper is that neither the originators nor the critics seem thus far to have provided satisfactory treatments of the 'operationality' of the above proposals. Considering that most of the proposed payments systems are forwarded as potential alternatives to existing fiat currency systems, this is a serious shortcoming. For each proposed payments system that this paper considers, the analytical method which is adopted for this objective is as follows: (I) The institutional arrangements defining the proposed payments system are specified. (II) This payments system is then embedded in an economy in which pricing decisions are made by agents in decentralised markets.
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    Neutron-proton bremsstrahlung at 4.8 MeV
    (1979) Whittaker, John; Brooks, F D
    The differential cross-section for neutron-proton bremsstrahlung at an incident energy of 4.8 MeV has been measured where the outgoing nucleon angles were θₙ = 35°, θᵨ = 25°. An upper limit to d²σ/dΩₙdΩᵨ of 210 μb/sr² was found. The experimental method was unusual in that the target was an organic scintillation crystal which also served as recoil proton detector, and the bremsstrahlung photon was detected in addition to the two nucleons in a second crystal. An estimate of the cross-section corresponding to this experiment has been made using elastic scattering parameters. The measured upper limit is above this and other theoretical predictions, but represents a marked improvement over previous measurements in the energy range. Bibliography: p. 107-111.
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    Optimal government policy : a refutation of claims that optimal policy may be time inconsistent
    (1991) Walker, Paul; Whittaker, John
    Specifically, we are interested in the question of whether or not the supposed superiority of 'time inconsistent' policies vis-a-vis 'consistent' ones is correct. Given that the notion of 'inconsistency' forms the basis for the recent arguments in favour of 'rules' and against the use of control techniques, this question is of obvious importance. Briefly, the structure of the thesis is as follows. The first chapter concentrates on specifying the general nature of the problems tackled in the 'time inconsistency' literature, and forms the framework for the analysis which follows. Seminal papers on the issue of the 'inconsistency' of optimal plans and the inferiority of 'consistent' solutions are then examined in chapters two and three. A synthesis of the literature is reviewed in chapter four. Chapter five stands by itself as an illustration of the logical difficulties underlying claims that 'optimal' policies are in general 'time inconsistent'. The conclusion is in chapter six. Bibliography: pages 49-51.