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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 27]
Keith Rankin: The Big S-Word
Thursday, 5 October 2000, 3:14 pm | Keith Rankin
Don Brash said it for the first time since 1982. Stagflation. Sounds like a rush of male deer. But it's a case of mixed metaphors. Dr Brash has scared the horses. More >>
Keith Rankin: Bronze, Gold and Silver
Thursday, 28 September 2000, 9:58 am | Keith Rankin
Once again, New Zealand is experiencing the biennial disappointment of athletic underachievement. Even our ratio of bronze medals per capita doesn't look that brilliant. More >>
Keith Rankin: Leaving Godzone
Thursday, 21 September 2000, 8:42 am | Keith Rankin
A report by investment bank ABN Amro suggests that New Zealand is in for a long spell of net emigration and that house prices will fall by about 15%. This report was the subject of a Question to Parliament yesterday from Opposition leader Jenny Shipley. More >>
Keith Rankin: Taxing Times
Thursday, 14 September 2000, 10:10 am | Keith Rankin
There's nothing like a big rise in either fuel prices or taxes to stir up a bit of direct democracy, of the revolting petit bourgeoisie kind. More >>
Rankin: Conquest and Trauma in our Archipelago
Thursday, 7 September 2000, 8:40 am | Keith Rankin
Tariana Turia's controversial comments about Maori being victims of "post-colonial traumatic stress disorder" and her analogy between the holocaust and the fate of Taranaki Maori raise a number of issues and deserve to be taken seriously. More >>
Keith Rankin's Thursday Column: Shocking Prices?
Thursday, 31 August 2000, 9:10 am | Keith Rankin
Retail petrol prices are up 50% since around this time last year. It's just one issue behind the malaise that's going round. It seems such a pity to waste the year 2000 - the millennium year - worrying about the kinds of price change that represent no ... More >>
Keith Rankin's Thursday Column: Valuing Lives
Thursday, 24 August 2000, 8:58 am | Keith Rankin
The tragedy of the Russian submarine 'Kursk' reveals much about how our value systems have changed, for the better, in 100 years. Economic development, democracy, press freedom, and globalisation have created a world in which the slaughter of human beings ... More >>
Keith Rankin's Thursday Column: Fair Shares
Thursday, 17 August 2000, 9:33 am | Keith Rankin
Yesterday, to the relief of just about everyone, Reserve Bank Governor did not raise the Official Cash Rate, the interest rate that 'tells' financial markets what interest rates should be. Also, and to the relief of many, the Employment Relations Bill was ... More >>
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 >>
