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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 9]
Systemic Behaviour, And The Challenges Of The 2020s
Thursday, 23 April 2020, 4:48 pm | Keith Rankin
The System – The Whole Good systemic behaviour is acting for the good of all, not by making altruistic sacrifices but by following the golden rule ("behave towards others as you would have them behave towards you"). Or put another way, ... More >>
'Europia' And The Spread Of Covid19
Thursday, 16 April 2020, 1:18 pm | Keith Rankin
I should be at Iguaçu Falls today, in Brazil and in Argentina. In mid-February I booked my domestic flights in these two countries, believing that the Covid19 epidemic was under control in Asia, and was unlikely to become anything like as serious anywhere ... More >>
Northern European Mercantilism And The Covid19 Emergency
Thursday, 9 April 2020, 12:06 pm | Keith Rankin
What is Mercantilism? Mercantilism is the form of public policy that was dominant in Europe – especially Northern Europe – in the 'early modern' period; meaning in the period loosely between 1500 and 1800 (sixteenth to eighteenth centuries). ... More >>
Universal Basic Income (or Basic Universal Income) And Covid19
Tuesday, 7 April 2020, 11:15 am | Keith Rankin
Once again it was very disappointing to hear a radio programme poo-pooing the idea of a Universal Basic Income by misrepresenting it. Refer: (The Panel, National Radio, 6 April 2020) https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/thepanel/audio/2018741718/a-universal-basic-income-to-all-its-citizens ... More >>
Money, Public Debt And The Covid19 Emergency
Thursday, 2 April 2020, 8:11 pm | Keith Rankin
What is Money? Money is a mystery. To most of us we receive it, we spend it, we save it, we borrow it. And if we don't have enough, we are in trouble. Many of us think of money as if it is tangible, like gold; something that is naturally scarce, ... More >>
Coronavirus – A Malthusian Event?
Friday, 27 March 2020, 6:58 pm | Keith Rankin
Malthusian checks The 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic has all the visible hallmarks of a Malthusian pestilence, a necessary positive check visited upon an overabundant humanity. Indeed, that is a likely future interpretation of this event. It's an important ... More >>
Universal Basic Income And Covid19
Wednesday, 25 March 2020, 8:37 pm | Keith Rankin
I keep hearing rather unfortunate 'expert' comments in response to questions asked about Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a way of responding to the Covid19 economic contraction. These comments all relate to a 'straw man' concept of UBI that is obviously ... More >>
Economic Emergency 2020, Will There Be A Resumption Of Normality?
Thursday, 12 March 2020, 4:47 pm | Keith Rankin
For a few weeks now, awareness has been growing that the global economic consequences of the Covid19 epidemic (that WHO today notes has "characteristics of a pandemic") may be greater than the medical consequences, even if the European death rates fail ... More >>
Keith Rankin: Another Option for Auckland's Port
Thursday, 12 December 2019, 2:21 pm | Keith Rankin
The case for a complete relocation of Auckland's Waitematā Harbour freight port is far from established. Nevertheless, Auckland will grow over the long term, and the freight operations need to move away from the area close to the downtown Ferry ... More >>
Liberal Mercantilism and Economic Capitalism
Friday, 28 September 2018, 10:32 am | Keith Rankin
Most of us realise that there is something wrong with capitalism as we know it. We also accept that capitalism is here to stay; the only practicable alternatives are evolutions of capitalism, not from capitalism. More >>
The Government's New 'Employment' Contract
Wednesday, 28 March 2018, 10:07 am | Keith Rankin
The government has got it badly wrong with the new Policy Targets Agreement , its contract with the Reserve Bank about monetary policy. Perhaps inadvertently, the emphasis is now on maximising employment, not living standards. Maximising employment ... More >>
Public Equity and Tax-Benefit Reform
Thursday, 14 December 2017, 5:55 pm | Keith Rankin
Public Equity is not a difficult concept to understand. Equity is about ownership. And equity is about equality. Equal owners own what they own equally. Two equal owners of a house own that house equally. Two people with equal shares in a business have ... More >>
UBI as a Reconceptualisation of Income Tax
Thursday, 24 March 2016, 1:13 pm | Keith Rankin
I am worried that too much of the recent talk around the introduction of a universal basic income has been unhelpful. The concept – defined in 1991 – is still not understood by the politicians and journalists who represent the public's main source ... More >>
Predicting the World Economy through Financial Balances
Thursday, 8 October 2015, 11:33 am | Keith Rankin
In my most recent Charts for this Week on Evening Report , I have published charts of average private sector and government financial balances (surpluses/deficits) for a wide range of countries for two decades of financial excess ( Spread of Financial ... More >>
Keith Rankin: Germany, the Eurozone and Mercantilism
Tuesday, 29 September 2015, 4:11 pm | Keith Rankin
Of all the naughty isms in the world, mercantilism is so high in the economist's bad books that this m-word is barely mentioned today. One reason for this is that mercantilism is so widely practised, that any serious discussion of the topic would ... More >>
The Economy of Services
Wednesday, 16 September 2015, 8:35 am | Keith Rankin
I wrote last week about how just about everyone – even economists who should know better – regard the economy as a production system. We imagine a whole bunch of goods that are produced and then, through their sale, turned into money. Thus, in ... More >>
The Economy: What's it for?
Monday, 7 September 2015, 12:32 pm | Keith Rankin
I re-watched the Q+A 'immigration debate' screened (parts one and two ) by TVNZ on 23 August. In light of recent events, the discussion already seems very dated. The underlying assumptions – especially by the two macroeconomists on the panel – ... More >>
The Migration Crisis in Europe, Africa and Asia
Thursday, 3 September 2015, 9:48 am | Keith Rankin
The flood of immigrants into Europe this year represents something quite separate from traditional refugee settlements that spring up near to borders of conflict zones. This is globalisation in action, not simply refuge from conflict, and it reminds ... More >>
Rankin: Hollow Auckland, Hollow Media, Hollow Opposition
Monday, 24 August 2015, 12:58 pm | Keith Rankin
I was interested to hear this story ( More students at poorest schools ) on Thursday (20 August), about the large changes in school enrolments in Decile 10 and Decile 1 schools. These are the schools that are located in the richest and poorest suburbs ... More >>
Auckland Slowdown?
Monday, 17 August 2015, 10:40 am | Keith Rankin
Has the Auckland housing market turned? I went to a neighbourhood auction yesterday. Solid large 1950s' house on 1,000 square metres of land, sunny section, view over city from front of house, handy to train and to the expanding New Lynn retail and ... More >>
