Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
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 22]
Keith Rankin - Motorway Madness
Friday, 11 October 2002, 11:15 am | Keith Rankin
John Banks wants to give Auckland a triple by-pass. Imagine a doctor telling a patient with blocked arteries that she must wait 15 years for a triple by-pass, when the alternative single bypass could be achieved much sooner. More >>
Information, Belief and Terror
Friday, 4 October 2002, 10:56 am | Keith Rankin
The Internet has made it possible to disseminate untruths more widely and more quickly than ever before. This is not necessarily a problem. Most of us have a portfolio of beliefs which include some items that are verifiably untrue. More >>
Ministry of Information: Govt's new Burns Unit
Friday, 27 September 2002, 8:38 am | Keith Rankin
The new Government Communications Unit - dubbed the Burns Unit after its director Brendon Burns - has been compared with Goebbels' Ministry of Propaganda in Hitler's Third Reich, and (by Winston Peters) with the former Soviet official mouthpiece Tass. More >>
Incremental versus Excremental Economics
Friday, 20 September 2002, 8:44 am | Keith Rankin
Orthodox neoclassical economics is incremental in its nature. Economic analysis is done by considering small changes at the 'margin' to such things as cost, utility (ie happiness), revenue or whatever. And neoclassical economists prefer to interpret ... More >>
A Brief Reflection
Friday, 13 September 2002, 8:15 am | Keith Rankin
Now that it's the first anniversary of the attacks by (presumably) Al Qaeda on New York and Washington, two things in particular worry me. The American political leaders seem to have learned nothing about how to avoid terror, and they make statements ... More >>
Keith Rankin: Transport Modes
Friday, 6 September 2002, 9:39 am | Keith Rankin
Two weeks ago I suggested that the airline industry was going through a transformation that would make it much like any other form of transport; for example like buses. Air New Zealand has travelled further down that road than its Goliath rival Qantas. More >>
Keith Rankin: Teacher Relativity
Thursday, 29 August 2002, 8:41 am | Keith Rankin
I generally favour higher wage rates over lower wage rates. Higher wage rates enable parents to work fewer hours. (Commission for the Family, take note.) Further, higher wage rates encourage firms to economise on labour. The result is higher productivity; ... More >>
Keith Rankin: QANZAS?
Thursday, 22 August 2002, 9:27 am | Keith Rankin
Will the Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service be allowed to buy into Air New Zealand, thus in effect creating a virtual airline monopoly in Australasia? More >>
Keith Rankin: Parliament: People or Parties?
Thursday, 15 August 2002, 9:52 am | Keith Rankin
Is Parliament inhabited by people or parties? The answer is obvious; MPs are people, not numbered tokens on a party ledger. Yet most of the media discussion of politics is confined to the dynamics of the parties, or the party leaders, as the parties ... More >>
Keith Rankin: Whither National?
Thursday, 8 August 2002, 9:33 am | Keith Rankin
Will the National Party wither? Yes, if it doesn't stand for anything. So what could it stand for? I see it having a future if it adopts a 'libertarian centre' position in contrast to Labour's 'authoritarian centre' place on the political grid, and in ... More >>
Keith Rankin: From Labour "Landslide" to 2008
Thursday, 1 August 2002, 10:09 am | Keith Rankin
If last weekend's election had been held under "First-Past-the-Post" (FPP) with 69 electorates Labour+Anderton would have won 62 to 65 of those seats. This is because, when we only had an "electorate vote", we had to use it as ... More >>
Feedback: Sludge on Holland
Tuesday, 30 July 2002, 9:52 am | Keith Rankin
I take it someone has already corrected your boo-boo about Harry Holland. Helen Clark was referring to arch-conservative PM Sid Holland, and not the Marxist Labour leader who died in 1933. [Can we fix this? Yes we can! - C.D. Sludge.] More >>
Keith Rankin: Permutations and Combinations
Thursday, 25 July 2002, 9:08 am | Keith Rankin
What are some of the plausible (though not necessarily probable) configurations of parties in the new Parliament and their implications for Government? How safe are the senior politicians of National and Labour? And how can voters most effectively ... More >>
Keith Rankin: Good Timing
Thursday, 18 July 2002, 9:39 am | Keith Rankin
The economy doesn't rate as much of an issue this election. OK, there are the usual concerns about health and education spending. But there is no sense of economic crisis, and no great willingness to engage in a philosophical debate about matters of political ... More >>
Keith Rankin: The Campaign We Didn't Need
Thursday, 11 July 2002, 8:51 am | Keith Rankin
I find it deeply frustrating that this election campaign is being dominated by the mainstream media relentlessly pushing two non-issues: cover-ups relating to inappropriately autographed artwork and the limited release of genetically modified organisms. We ... More >>
Keith Rankin On Interest Rake hike
Thursday, 4 July 2002, 9:46 am | Keith Rankin
The Acting Governor of the Reserve Bank, while once again raising the Official Cash Rate as an act of further tightening monetary policy, notes that ongoing increases are less likely than he had expected in May. More >>
Keith Rankin: Taxing Questions
Thursday, 4 July 2002, 9:35 am | Keith Rankin
In this election campaign, the tax cut bandwagon seems to have run out of steam. National realises that there are not many votes to be won by offering to cut the 33 and 39 percent top tax rates. Even Act is giving less emphasis to this issue and ... More >>
Keith Rankin: Cullen v. Brash
Thursday, 27 June 2002, 9:50 am | Keith Rankin
Former Reserve Bank governor Don Brash's entry into politics has given Finance Minister Michael Cullen a windfall opportunity to criticise the management of monetary policy. Hitherto, at least since 1989, Finance Ministers had been expected to stoically wear ... More >>
Keith Rankin: Riding the Anti-Gravy Train
Thursday, 20 June 2002, 9:46 am | Keith Rankin
Once again we are being softened up to accept some sort of compulsory savings scheme and to expect further rises in the age of entitlement to New Zealand Superannuation. More >>
Keith Rankin: Labour, But Not Too Much Labour
Thursday, 13 June 2002, 9:23 am | Keith Rankin
In the past I have argued that tactical voting was the norm under the former FPP voting system, and is the exception under the present MMP system. More >>
