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Keith Rankin
Political Economist, Scoop Columnist
Keith Rankin taught economics at Unitec in Mt Albert since 1999. An economic historian by training, his research has included an analysis of labour supply in the Great Depression of the 1930s, and has included estimates of New Zealand's GNP going back to the 1850s.
Keith believes that many of the economic issues that beguile us cannot be understood by relying on the orthodox interpretations of our social science disciplines. Keith favours a critical approach that emphasises new perspectives rather than simply opposing those practices and policies that we don't like.
Keith retired in 2020 and lives with his family in Glen Eden, Auckland.
Keith Rankin - Latest News [Page 2]
The Ponzi Financial Model And New Zealand's Monetary Policy
Thursday, 26 October 2023, 3:19 pm | Keith Rankin
Today I read this article ( David Seymour calls for sweeping changes to make the Reserve Bank more accountable , NZ Herald , 26 October) showing David Seymore's wish to double-down on New Zealand's financial model. The Ponzi financial model operates ... More >>
Does Christopher Luxon Understand MMP?
Monday, 9 October 2023, 6:34 pm | Keith Rankin
I read this article quoting Christopher Luxon as follows: "We’ve been to many places where marginal seats are and we’re getting good movement." ( Luxon talks to media amid election result limbo fears , NZ Herald , 7 Oct 2023). He has ... More >>
Financial Literacy, Compound Interest, And The Veneration Of Money
Monday, 21 August 2023, 5:50 pm | Keith Rankin
In New Zealand, both Labour and National want the teaching of 'financial literacy' to become compulsory in schools. (See Labour pledges compulsory financial literacy classes in schools and National also aiming to make financial literacy compulsory ... More >>
Subsidise Vegetables And Fruit
Tuesday, 15 August 2023, 12:25 pm | Keith Rankin
Fresh vegetables and fruit – quality foods – are what economists call a merit good , like primary health care, education and urban public transport. By contrast, 'junk food' – rich in sugar – is a demerit good. We in New Zealand and many other ... More >>
Income Tax And Common-Sense: The Aotearoa New Zealand Case
Monday, 17 July 2023, 11:37 am | Keith Rankin
Last week we heard the Labour Party leader, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, practically rule out changes to the marginal income tax rates or the associated income thresholds. In particular, he indicated that a Hipkins-led government would not proceed with ... More >>
Narratives And Narrators: The Curious RNZ Story
Wednesday, 12 July 2023, 6:53 pm | Keith Rankin
I was concerned when the story broke last month about inappropriate subediting by RNZ staff of 'wirecopy' from international sources such as Reuters. The wire-tampering story broke with particular reference to stories about the war in Ukraine; and, at ... More >>
Adult Poverty Action, And The Loafers Lodge
Friday, 19 May 2023, 2:15 pm | Keith Rankin
Tuesday's boarding-house fire in Wellington was a tragedy of lost lives, and failure to supply safe housing and adequately resourced emergency services. But it was much more, and so far the socio-demographic revelations have barely been touched upon ... More >>
Public Science, Covid19 Vaccines, And The Audio Medium
Thursday, 6 April 2023, 10:54 am | Keith Rankin
Public science is an open contestable process, whereby questions of public importance are evaluated in an open contestable forum. If any research by one scientist is not able to be replicated by other citizens using the same data, then the findings of ... More >>
Covid19 Post-Pandemic: Back To Normal?
Monday, 3 April 2023, 2:30 pm | Keith Rankin
A pandemic can end in three ways. Either the death rates attributed to the pandemic disease cease, or at least drop back to pre-pandemic levels. Or normality is re-established, with the pandemic disease still present, but displacing other causes of death. Or ... More >>
Sex, Gender, Demography And Culture Wars
Thursday, 30 March 2023, 2:12 pm | Keith Rankin
Sex Whoever would have predicted that the definition of 'male' and 'female' could ever become a matter of contention? My professional life has been in political economy, which includes social science and humanities: philosophy, economics, history, statistics, ... More >>
Spiralling Deaths In Germany
Tuesday, 14 March 2023, 2:12 pm | Keith Rankin
The four weeks ending 8 January 2023 have seen easily the most deaths in Germany of any fourweek period since 2015. A table of Germany's mortality peaks from 2015 features in my Evening Report analysis Germany’s Deadliest Weeks since World War ... More >>
To Be A Good Cancer
Thursday, 8 December 2022, 4:04 pm | Keith Rankin
"Antlers grow through a mechanism that is very similar to cancer. But, because deer can keep that growth in check, they are extremely resilient to cancers. … "Sardinia's own dwarf deer, a relative of Ireland's giant elk, was eradicated ... More >>
Predicting The Coming Quarter Century
Tuesday, 6 December 2022, 1:41 pm | Keith Rankin
On 29 October 2022, the New Zealand Listener published 10 Billion reasons to be cheerful , an article by Greg Dixon summarising "futurologist" Hamish McRae's 2022 book The World in 2050: How to think about the future . (Note also the accompanying ... More >>
Using The Sex Industry To Critique Textbook Economics
Friday, 2 December 2022, 2:57 pm | Keith Rankin
Economics is a profound and important discipline. But its practice is prone to self-censorship, and still reflects in large part its (Victorian era) glory days and the sensibilities of that era. The father and mother of today's textbook economics were Alfred Marshall ... More >>
Extending Democracy And The Age Of Voter Entitlement
Friday, 25 November 2022, 1:43 pm | Keith Rankin
Earlier this week, in the wake of a decision by the Supreme Court of Aotearoa New Zealand , the Government announced it would draft a Bill which would extend the franchise in New Zealand to sixteen- and seventeen-year-old citizens and permanent residents. ... More >>
Population Imbalances In A World Of Eight Billion
Thursday, 24 November 2022, 7:00 pm | Keith Rankin
Last week the world population reached eight billion people, at least according to some sources. See these world population clocks, which do not agree: refer Worldometer and the US Census Bureau . The growth rate of the world population is slowing. Indeed, ... More >>
Science, And The Benefits And Costs Of Nose-Picking
Thursday, 17 November 2022, 12:34 pm | Keith Rankin
If ... gets up your nose, picket.* This month, Radio New Zealand listeners were treated to not one but two science stories about nose-picking! They make good fodder for a discussion about the practice of science. Self-Vaccination? The first item ... More >>
The Cost-of-Living Crisis, And Inflation
Wednesday, 9 November 2022, 12:05 pm | Keith Rankin
The present cost-of-living crisis, and the present inflation, are global issues. It is just silly to discuss these, to address these, in predominantly nationalist terms. The next key point to note is that rises in the cost-of-living and inflation ... More >>
Liz Truss And Kwasi Kwarteng: What They Were Thinking
Monday, 7 November 2022, 3:45 pm | Keith Rankin
In the last three months, Elizabeth (Liz) Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng performed an amazing political boom and bust routine. They captured the British Conservative Party at a time that such a capture meant a direct route to power in the United Kingdom. ... More >>
The Coming Plight Of Aotearoan Women In Their Early Sixties
Thursday, 3 November 2022, 7:07 am | Keith Rankin
This is a story that is not confined to New Zealand women in their early 60s, but which focusses on them as a surprisingly large group facing challenging circumstances. My focus narrows even further; my emphasis here is on 'married' women, and with partners ... More >>
