Alan Arthur Walters

Background

Walters, Alan Arthur was born in 1926 in Leicester, England, Bachelor of Science in Economics, U. London, 1951.

Education

Master of Arts, University of Oxford, 1981. Doctor of Letters (honorary), University Leicester, 1981. Doctorate in Society Science (honorary), University Birmingham, 1984.

Doctor of Philosophy Francisco Marroquin, Guatemala.

Lecturer department econometrics and statistics U. Birmingham (England), 1952-1960, professor, 1961-1968, head department, 1961-1968. Sir Ernest Cassel professor economics U. London, London School Economics, 1968-1975.

Professor economics Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 1975-1991. Resident scholar American Enterprise Institute, Washington, 1983-1984.

Visiting professor Northwestern University, 1959-1960, University of Virginia, 1966-1967, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1967-1968, Monash U. (Australia), 1971.

Past consultant various central banks. Member Commision on London"s Third Airport (Roskill), 1968-1970. Economics adviser World Bank, 1976-1980.

Chief economics adviser to Prime Minister, United Kingdom, 1981-1983, 89.

Director American International Trading Group, Washington, 1991.Author: (with R.W. Clower, G. Dalton and M. Harwitz) Growth Without Development, 1966. Integration in Freight Transport, 1968.

The Economics of Road User Charges, 1968. An Introduction To Econometrics, 1968, second edition, 1969.

Money in Bloom and Slump, 3d edition, 1971.

Noise andPrices, 1975. (with P.R.G. Layard, and McGraw Hill) Microeconomic Theory, 1978. (with East. Bennathan) Portuguese Pricing and Investment in Developing Countries, 1979, Britain"s Economic Renaissance, 1986, Sterling in Danger, 1990.

Editor: Money and Banking, 1970.

Contributor articles to profile publications.

Career

He joined the British Army as a private. On leaving Nuffield in 1951, he took up a post to teach statistics at Birmingham University, later becoming professor of econometrics and statistics there in the early 1960s. He was one of the first British economists to argue that money was "of considerable importance" to economic activity, a view that became more widespread during "the Great Inflation" of the 1970s.

He argued forcefully that Britain should maintain strict monetary targets, and that the money supply should not be manipulated for political reasons.

After serving as a professor at the London School of Economics from 1968 to 1976, where he was Sir Ernest Cassel Professor of Economics, Walters became an economic adviser to the World Bank and a professor in the Economics Department at The Johns Hopkins University. One of his most important contributions to economic theory was to demonstrate empirically that, for many industries, the costs at the high-scale end of the long-run cost curve is essentially constant or even declining.

This was established in his article "Production and Cost Functions: An Econometric Survey", published by the journal Econometrica. In 1981, he was asked to become an economic adviser to Margaret Thatcher (Prime minister since 4 May 1979), and advised on that year"s budget, in which taxes were increased during a recession.

This policy produced much criticism and was associated with rioting and high unemployment, but it has been claimed that it enabled the sustained economic growth of the 1990s.

He left this role in 1983 to join the American Enterprise Institute and at least some aspects of monetarist policies were publicly repudiated by Thatcher in 1985. He did however return to advise Thatcher in 1989, but his differences with the policies of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson, led to the resignation of both later in that year. Walters supported the controversial and ill-fated poll tax

He opposed the controversial and ill-fated policy of entry into the European Monetary System.

Achievements

• Alan Arthur Walters has been listed as a noteworthy economist by Marquis Who's Who.

Works

More photos

• book

  • All Is Clouded by Desire: Global Banking, Money Laundering, and International Organized Crime (International and Comparative Criminology)

    ( Before Enron, before Arthur Anderson, and before Worldc...)

  • All Is Clouded by Desire: Global Banking, Money Laundering, and International Organized Crime (International and Comparative Criminology)

    ( Before Enron, before Arthur Anderson, and before Worldc...)

  • Integration in Freight Transport
  • The Economics of Road User Charges
  • The Economics of Road User Charges (World Bank)
  • Noise and Prices
  • Port Pricing and Investment Policy for Developing Countries (World Bank Research Publications) by Bennathan Esra Walters A.A. (1979-07-12) Hardcover
  • Port Pricing and Investment Policy for Developing Countries (World Bank Research Publications)
  • Sterling in Danger: Economic Consequences of Fixed Exchange Rates
  • Intermediate Microeconomics: Theory and Applications
  • The economics and politics of money; the selected essays of Alan Walters. (Econo
  • Microeconomic Theory

• Other Work

  • Author: (with R.W. Clower, G. Dalton and M. Harwitz) Growth Without Development, 1966. Integration in Freight Transport, 1968. The Economics of Road User Charges, 1968.An Introduction to Econometrics, 1968, second edition, 1969, Money in Bloom and Slump, 3d edition, 1971, Noise and Prices, 1975, (with P.R.G. Layard and McGraw Hill) Microeconomic Theory, 1978, (with E. Bennathan) Port Pricing and Investment in Developing Countries, 1979, Britqain's Economic Renaissance, 1986, Sterling in Danger, 1990, The Economics and Politics of Money, 1998. Editor: Money and Banking, 1970. Contributor articles to professional publications.

Politics

In 1997, he stood as the Referendum Party candidate for the safe Conservative seat of the Cities of London and Westminster achieving 3% of the vote.

Views

Early work was in economic statistics, particularly the distribution of income, but became more interested in applied economics and econometric testing, particularly in the transport industries. My main contribution here was in the development of pricing principles and practice in industrial and developing countries and in the problem of dealing with urban traffic congestion and public sector pricing generally. I believe that as a result there was a change in professional and official views on pricing.

This led to an interest in the econometrics of production and cost functioning generally. But this was quickly overtaken (in 1959) by my curiosity about monetary policy in the United Kingdom and monetary economics and theory. The problem was first to establish lines for the quantity of money, then to examine the evidence of money demand and monetary multipliers for the United Kingdom. I became more involved in general discussions about British economic policy and performance but also I continued my work on pricing and costbenefit studies — the latter with my membership of the Commission on London’s Third Airport (1968-1970).

Policy dominated my interests and I was able to bring the experience to the job of advising the Prime Minister on all matters of economic policy. Finally, I have recently been concerned with the state of economics — and particularly macroeconomics — and the advice which economists can, with good conscience, give. A review of the policies and performance of the British economy is under way.

Membership

In 1968-1970 he was a member of the Commission on the Third London Airport (the "Roskill Commission").

Interests

• 120 Country Studies; 310 & 320 Domestic Monetary and Fiscal Policy.

Connections

Married Margaret Patricia Wilson, 1975.

Spouse:

Margaret Patricia Wilson