Celebrating 25 Years of Scoop
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 1]
Peter Turchin's "End Times"; Some Comments
Friday, 26 July 2024, 10:42 am | Keith Rankin
The essence of the structural-dynamic model is the alternation of integrative and disintegrative long-phases of nation's histories. And, from his earlier work, there's a strong sense that civilisations go through three of four of these alternations ... More >>
Is Inflation Really Too High?
Tuesday, 23 July 2024, 2:19 pm | Keith Rankin
What New Zealand was experiencing earlier this decade was a spike in cost increases resulting from the Covid19 pandemic and from the Russia-Ukraine war. That's not inflation. It was just costs incurred which humanity had to absorb. More >>
New Zealand's Joe (Biden/Ward) Moment
Tuesday, 16 July 2024, 5:34 pm | Keith Rankin
Joseph Ward's 'Biden moment' bisected 1925 to 1933 period, enabling 1929 and most of 1930 to be relatively good years for New Zealand in the midst of a disastrous run of circumstance compounded by unbending economic liberalism of William Downie ... More >>
France's Two-Ballot Voting System, And Its New Zealand Antecedent
Friday, 12 July 2024, 12:40 pm | Keith Rankin
The French two-ballot voting system, used in France's Fifth Republic (1958 constitution) is a variant of the Australian preferential system, and the multi-ballot systems used for electing presidents and leaders of political parties. More >>
World War Two: Baddies And Goodies
Tuesday, 26 March 2024, 3:30 pm | Keith Rankin
My earlier article – Can 'Good' be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil framing of international conflicts makes it difficult for participants – especially those who are convinced they are ... More >>
Can 'Good' Be The Greater Evil?
Tuesday, 26 March 2024, 10:27 am | Keith Rankin
Much of our conflict in the world has been (at least at the time it was happening) framed as Good versus Evil, and with Good therefore having a moral imperative to prevail 'at any cost'. Once upon a time – and in my lifetime – many of us regarded ... More >>
Tax Cuts?
Monday, 25 March 2024, 2:23 pm | Keith Rankin
Do we need real income-tax cuts this year? Probably not. Do we need nominal income-tax cuts? Yes, we do. The government should go ahead with its proposed tax cuts, but only to low- and middle-income earners. The tax cuts should compensate for the inflationary ... More >>
Economic Performance: New Zealand versus Japan
Wednesday, 20 March 2024, 4:28 pm | Keith Rankin
Tomorrow we will see the latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data for New Zealand. It's worth looking today, however, at what the situation is before that data release (with its revisions as well as new data). And in context by comparing New Zealand ... More >>
Empty Rentals And 'Investor'-friendly Taxes
Monday, 11 March 2024, 4:27 pm | Keith Rankin
This morning on RNZ's Morning Report, Revenue Minister Simon Watts admitted that it was a legitimate option for 'landlords' to leave their houses empty. (Refer Revenue Minister on mortgage tax deductions for landlords , RNZ 11 March 2024.) The official ... More >>
Interest Costs, The Cost-of-Living, And The Cost-of-Government
Thursday, 7 March 2024, 3:01 pm | Keith Rankin
In Question Time in Parliament, yesterday, Finance Minister Nicola Willis was asked a question about the extent of the cost of government debt-servicing. The answer, in short, was 'a lot'; and she mentioned that the cost had been assessed on an interest-only ... More >>
Collective Versus Individual: Māori Versus 'Maoris'
Thursday, 1 February 2024, 1:45 pm | Keith Rankin
Collectiveness at it most potent has been called asabiyya by macrohistorian and cliodynamicist Peter Turchin. At its least potent , collectiveness is a recipe for social division, top-heaviness, escalating inequality, and societal breakdown. The ... More >>
Collective Versus Individual: Māori Versus 'Maoris'
Thursday, 1 February 2024, 1:42 pm | Keith Rankin
Collectiveness at it most potent has been called asabiyya by macrohistorian and cliodynamicist Peter Turchin. At its least potent , collectiveness is a recipe for social division, top-heaviness, escalating inequality, and societal breakdown. The ... More >>
Secular Cycles And Empires
Tuesday, 30 January 2024, 1:49 pm | Keith Rankin
Peter Turchin, author of End Times , has spent many years researching cliodynamics . His works in the 2000s include Secular Cycles (2009) and War and Peace and Wa r (2007). A central concept in communicating his research is that of asabiyya , a word ... More >>
To Be (a) Liberal
Thursday, 18 January 2024, 2:12 pm | Keith Rankin
I enjoy Bryce Edwards' Political Roundup as a succinct and pertinent summary of current New Zealand politics. But, in The Liberal v Conservative anguish over the direction of NZ politics ( NZ Herald , 3 January 2024) Edwards corrupts the word ... More >>
Genocide As A Concept: Binary Or Analogue?
Monday, 15 January 2024, 1:46 pm | Keith Rankin
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) – based in The Hague, in The Netherlands – is being asked by South Africa if the 100-day (so far) slaughter by the Government of Israel in Gaza constitutes a 'genocide'. Thus 'genocide' is presented as a binary ... More >>
Political Culture And Close Elections
Thursday, 21 December 2023, 4:31 pm | Keith Rankin
When countries' national elections are closely fought, it means that the median voters critically determine the parliamentary or congressional outcome. But, though depending to a considerable extent on the prevailing political culture, the centre-of-gravity More >>
The Shipping News: Lyttelton Versus Picton, And Other Stories
Tuesday, 19 December 2023, 4:36 pm | Keith Rankin
Last week the new government effectively cancelled the plans of Kiwi Rail – in the form of 'The Interislander' – derailing its intended Picton rail and road expansion. The plans were judged to be too costly; in particular, the rate of cost escalation ... More >>
Te Pūkenga, Universities, And Unitec
Friday, 15 December 2023, 10:05 am | Keith Rankin
Tertiary education is in crisis in Aotearoa New Zealand. Vocational education, the domain of the Polytechnic 'Institutes of Technology'; and Science and Humanities' education, the traditional domain of the Universities. 2023 was an election year, ... More >>
Supremacism, Israel And Neozionism
Friday, 1 December 2023, 2:15 pm | Keith Rankin
Keith Rankin, 1 December 2023 Supremacism is a cultural belief that an in-group of humanity is inherently superior to other groups, and that those other groups have lesser human rights as a consequence of their presumed inferiority or ... More >>
Government By Cliché
Tuesday, 28 November 2023, 4:14 pm | Keith Rankin
The new government is making a weak start to its tenure. On Morning Report (RNZ, 28 Nov 2023, Prime Minister Luxon to lead first cabinet meeting ), Mr Luxon repeated a comment such as he has made several times before: "The number one job is to ... More >>
