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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 3]
Does Covid19 Discriminate Against Māori And Pasifika New Zealanders?
Wednesday, 19 October 2022, 10:20 am | Keith Rankin
A few weeks ago this article from Stuff (24 Sep) was drawn to my attention: The shocking stats that prove Covid19 does not kill equally . While I have some problems with the article's interpretation of the data, by and large the article itself was ... More >>
Public Health Watch: Where Does Michael Baker Get His Facts From?
Wednesday, 10 August 2022, 4:01 pm | Keith Rankin
This morning, RNZ played the following story: Health stats show 87 people have died in their homes from Covid-19 since March , which references New Zealand's most media-visible expert, Dr Michael Baker. (And this on today's Morning Report .) Before commenting More >>
Some Important But Little Known Facts About Taiwan
Friday, 5 August 2022, 3:21 pm | Keith Rankin
The nuclear clock is closer than ever (since 1962) to 'midnight'. Taiwan and Ukraine are of course the two flashpoints. It is important that the citizens of the world understand the key facts. The official name of Taiwan is the 'Republic of China'. ... More >>
Some Important But Little Known Facts About Taiwan
Friday, 5 August 2022, 3:14 pm | Keith Rankin
The nuclear clock is closer than ever (since 1962) to 'midnight'. Taiwan and Ukraine are of course the two flashpoints. It is important that the citizens of the world understand the key facts. The official name of Taiwan is the 'Republic of China'. ... More >>
Covid19 Winter Deaths: New Zealand Versus Australia
Wednesday, 3 August 2022, 10:55 am | Keith Rankin
New Zealand has had the worst reported mortality rate for Covid19 in the world for the last two weeks, according to the international data. And by a significant margin. But you wouldn't know it from the traditional media. 'Underwhelming' is an overstatement. ... More >>
Answers Please? Tribulations Of Getting A Covid19 Vaccine '2nd Booster'
Thursday, 28 July 2022, 1:34 pm | Keith Rankin
I try to write about general issues of importance, in a general – indeed global – context. This time I will write just about me. I am the same age as Phil Goff, Mayor of Auckland. And I want to be appropriately protected from Covid19. I have ... More >>
The Economic Cost Of War, Especially World War
Friday, 22 July 2022, 2:59 pm | Keith Rankin
All wars incur economic costs, and not only to the directly belligerent countries. The biggest costs arise when a war becomes a prolonged stalemate. The present war in Ukraine can be characterised, differently, as a Russian Civil War (that's the ... More >>
Latest Covid19 Death Demographics In New Zealand
Monday, 18 July 2022, 2:41 pm | Keith Rankin
This morning, on Morning Report (RNZ) Monash University epidemiologist Tony Blakely noted that Covid19 death rates in New Zealand are 20% higher in New Zealand than in Victoria, Australia. He also noted that facemask use is significantly more widespread ... More >>
Science Versus Narrative: Facemasks And Other Scientific Matters
Friday, 15 July 2022, 1:12 pm | Keith Rankin
A scientific hypothesis is a claim that is both plausible and 'empirically' testable. A hypothesis is the first part of the process of pure science. The second part is to actually test such claims. Claims that survive the rigour of testing become scientific ... More >>
Facemasks And Covid19 Mortality In 2021 And 2022, In Asia And Europe
Thursday, 14 July 2022, 9:58 am | Keith Rankin
Professor Michael Baker: "Societies who are using masks are doing very well, like South Korea, Japan. … And when we look at the countries which are succeeding, they are mask-using societies." From COVID-19: Epidemiologist Michael Baker ... More >>
Covid Vaccine Policy Fail: Priority Groups Under-protected
Wednesday, 13 July 2022, 1:35 pm | Keith Rankin
Keith Rankin, 13 July 2022 Kathryn Ryan: "Why is there a six-month gap between boosters?" Siouxsie Wiles: "I can't answer that for you. It doesn't make sense based on the data that we have. … In Israel they got it at least ... More >>
Narrow Vision: Subsidised Cars And Street Immunity
Friday, 27 May 2022, 12:31 pm | Keith Rankin
Problems make the world go round . Many of us – maybe the majority of workers, and certainly the majority of well-paid workers – earn our living addressing problems. A problem-free world would represent a major crisis for modern social-capitalism. ... More >>
Liberal Democracy In The New Neonationalist Era: The Three 'O's
Friday, 13 May 2022, 1:37 pm | Keith Rankin
Modern 'western' governments are known as 'liberal democracies'. While each political party in a liberal democracy has a 'policy agenda' which it would like to implement, only single-party governments have a realistic opportunity to fully implement their ... More >>
Problem Of Price Increases: 'Cost Of Living' Versus 'Inflation'
Thursday, 21 April 2022, 10:10 am | Keith Rankin
The new (though not unfamiliar to older New Zealanders) crisis of 2022 (and most likely beyond) has become, alternatively, a 'cost of living' or an 'inflation' crisis. The public discussion treats these two 'enemies of the people' as one and the same ... More >>
Global Warming: Considering The Lesser Evils
Thursday, 7 April 2022, 2:16 pm | Keith Rankin
Earlier this week the final report from the IPCC ( press release ) on climate change was released. While it indicates that it is still technically possible to limit global warming to 1½ degrees; such an outcome is both unlikely and may require more than ... More >>
Nature: Friend Or Foe?
Monday, 28 March 2022, 1:33 pm | Keith Rankin
One of the major themes in my life, as a baby-boomer growing up in the 1960s, has been the relationship between 'man' (aka humankind) and 'nature'. Science – especially applied science, and western philosophy – was presented as a progressive economic ... More >>
Borrowing Hurdles:Unintended Consequences Arising From Wilful Blindness
Wednesday, 23 March 2022, 12:56 pm | Keith Rankin
On 1 December 2021 the CCCFA (Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act) entered Aotearoa New Zealand with more stealth than the Omicron BA2 variant. It resulted in unintended consequences that were (and are) entirely predictable. There are two ... More >>
Rising 'Cost Of Living' And Inflation
Wednesday, 16 March 2022, 4:45 pm | Keith Rankin
The big new story in the news cycle – in New Zealand but not only in New Zealand – is the rising 'cost of living', which is usually conflated with 'inflation'. These topics – together and separately – are, like Covid19, devolved to 'social ... More >>
Fighting An Unclear War
Tuesday, 8 March 2022, 3:01 pm | Keith Rankin
The war in Ukraine possibly represents the most dangerous episode in the history of humanity in historical times; especially but not only because it comes on top of two other overt global crises – climate change and pandemic – and another ... More >>
Cancelling Disabled Children
Monday, 7 March 2022, 11:36 am | Keith Rankin
I watched the very short movie Forgive Us Our Trespasses on Netflix last weekend. Set in Germany in the 1930s, it starts with a schoolteacher giving an arithmetic lesson to a class of children. The question posed was that the cost of caring for ... More >>
