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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 23]
Keith Rankin's Thursday Column New York, New York
Thursday, 10 August 2000, 10:51 am | Keith Rankin
The announcement by Al Gore that Senator Joseph Lieberman will be his presidential 'running mate' points to a significant quirk in the US electoral system. More >>
Keith Rankin: Exit, Voice and Men
Thursday, 3 August 2000, 8:32 am | Keith Rankin
The recent news has been dominated by the trials and tribulations of three men: Mark Todd, Dover Samuels, John Tamihere. And by two two-year old Maori girls who were beaten to death or near-death in family environments characterised by the absence ... More >>
Keith Rankin's Thursday Column: Referenda
Thursday, 27 July 2000, 8:58 am | Keith Rankin
Submissions for the MMP Review are due in by Monday. The really important issue is the first part of part (c) of the terms of reference: "whether there should be a further referendum on changes to the electoral system". More >>
Keith Rankin's Thursday Column: Generic Benefits
Thursday, 20 July 2000, 10:08 am | Keith Rankin
Labour's plan to introduce a "universal benefit" is a rehash of their 1990 policy. The change is largely semantic. Further the semantics are wrong; this is no more than a step towards a universal benefit. There will still be groups of people ... More >>
Keith Rankin: Voyagers and Villagers
Thursday, 13 July 2000, 8:58 am | Keith Rankin
When crises of democracy such as those in Fiji and the Solomon Islands take place, I can do nothing other than try to understand the historical forces that are at work. I put on my macro economic-historian hat (as distinct from my macroeconomic historian ... More >>
Rankin: Business Confidence and Goodhart's Law
Thursday, 6 July 2000, 10:22 am | Keith Rankin
Last week's National Bank Survey of Business Confidence revealed the biggest loss of confidence since 1988. Yet, unlike 1988, there is no obvious reason for the apparent pessimism. It's no good blaming government policies such as slightly higher top tax ... More >>
Keith Rankin - Reflecting on the Gene Pool
Thursday, 29 June 2000, 9:35 am | Keith Rankin
What else can I write about today, other than what may prove to be the most important event of the 21st century? This week, the first draft of the human genome project (HGP) has been completed. The book of the genetic blueprint of human life has been ... More >>
Keith Rankin - Let the People Profit
Thursday, 15 June 2000, 8:38 am | Keith Rankin
The Caygill Report on the electricity industry (released Tuesday) is a moderate and sensible attempt to make the best of a bad job that cannot be undone. Last year's Bradford-led electricity reforms were predicated on two false assumptions: that 'the ... More >>
Keith Rankin: The Business of Government
Thursday, 8 June 2000, 8:54 am | Keith Rankin
Business interests in New Zealand have been lobbying hard to make the Labour-led government more "business friendly". The Parliamentary Labour Party seems to be acquiescing to this pressure. More >>
Keith Rankin - Accounting for Child Support
Thursday, 1 June 2000, 9:13 am | Keith Rankin
On Tuesday, the television programme Money Doctor featured a solo father wanting to save for a house for himself and his young daughter. He earned over $40,000 per year while also receiving $100 Child Support per week from his child's mother. Trouble ... More >>
Keith Rankin - Exchange Rate Blues?
Thursday, 25 May 2000, 9:35 am | Keith Rankin
It should be a matter of acute embarrassment to the Reserve Bank that the foreign exchange value of the New Zealand dollar should fall in response to its latest jacking up of interest rates. Instead of blaming Governor Don Brash for his lack of understanding ... More >>
Keith Rankin: Jolo And Jaffna
Thursday, 18 May 2000, 9:28 am | Keith Rankin
Two of the biggest international news events at the moment are the hostage crisis in Jolo (Philippines) and the siege of Jaffna (Sri Lanka). Not that you would know it from the New Zealand media, which has just discovered there's a war cum humanitarian ... More >>
Keith Rankin: Inquiry or Whitewash?
Thursday, 11 May 2000, 9:06 am | Keith Rankin
The inquiry into the operation of monetary policy announced this week looks like being a fairly narrow affair. The inquiry will not investigate whether the Reserve Bank should target inflation, or whether the target should be revised. Rather, the ... More >>
Keith Rankin: Family Politics and Gender Roles
Thursday, 4 May 2000, 8:51 am | Keith Rankin
As I intimated in this column (9 March), Muriel Newman's "Shared-Parenting" Bill has met with a political response. The government, in the form of Laila Harre (Minister of Women's Affairs), and the New Zealand Law Society, have used standard ... More >>
Keith Rankin - Socially Responsible Gambling
Thursday, 27 April 2000, 8:42 am | Keith Rankin
We tend to regard gambling as a vice, but risk-taking as a virtue. Indeed, risk-taking is a virtue. If nobody had ever taken a risk, then no economic development would have taken place. More >>
Inflation: A Decrease In The Value Of Money?
Wednesday, 19 April 2000, 11:52 pm | Keith Rankin
This month the latest inflation rate was announced two days before the scheduled announcement by the Reserve Bank to increase the OCR (official cash [interest] rate) to 6%. The CPI inflation rise, 0.7% for the period from mid-November to mid-February, ... More >>
Opinion: A Cashless Or A Cashmore Society?
Thursday, 13 April 2000, 11:53 am | Keith Rankin
This week, the ANZ bank announced that it would follow WestpacTrust in charging fees whenever its customers used other banks' automatic teller machines. This is a classic example of the "prisoners' dilemma" in which individualist behaviour leads ... More >>
Keith Rankin's Thursday Column: Territorial Leave
Thursday, 6 April 2000, 9:38 am | Keith Rankin
Earlier this week, the news broke that part-time soldiers (Territorials) who volunteer to serve in East Timor may lose their jobs if they go. The Employers Federation, while claiming to be sympathetic, appears to be playing hardball in order to win ... More >>
Keith Rankin: Child Custody and Child Support
Thursday, 30 March 2000, 9:40 am | Keith Rankin
Three weeks ago I wrote about Muriel Newman's Shared Parenting Bill ( http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0003/S00035.htm ), suggesting that it represents a positive step in the depoliticisation of child custody disputes. I noted that there would remain incentives for about-to-separate ... More >>
Keith Rankin's Thursday Column: Lucky Strike?
Thursday, 23 March 2000, 7:45 am | Keith Rankin
On Tuesday, US company Swift Energy announced that there is enough oil in its Rimu well, near Hawera, to make New Zealand self-sufficient in petroleum products. Further, a potentially larger nearby oilfield, Kauri, could make New Zealand into a substantial ... More >>
