Dr Rex A McKenzie
Faculties, departments and locations
- Faculty of Business and Social Sciences
- Department of Economics
- School of Law, Social and Behavioural Sciences
- Penrhyn Road
Senior Lecturer in Economics
- Email:
- [email protected]
About
I was trained at the New School for Social Research in New York USA. My 2006 PhD thesis was entitled Three Essays in the Political Economy of the English Speaking Caribbean. I have held lecturer, assistant professor and senior researcher posts in economics at the University of Technology, Kingston, Jamaica, Purchase College, SUNY, New York, USA, and the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Before academia, I was a professional foreign exchange dealer for 16 years. This professional experience connects to my research activities in the area of Global Political Economy.
I am a 2021-2022 Trust for London (TFL) grantee and lead the Wealth Chains Project (WCP). The WCP is a collaboration of social science researchers from different universities aimed at gaining a greater understanding of the relationship between property investment coming from offshore tax havens and socio-economic inequality in London.
Domains
I have been teaching for several years and in my teaching I follow Dave Collander: "Ultimately content, not delivery, determines whether one is or is not a good teacher. No matter how well you deliver it, if you do not have something to say, you are not going to be a good teacher." I therefore spend a lot of time thinking about content. Am I saying what I need to say in the way that students can understand and relate to? Thus for me, the key teaching issues are: "what is the content of what we are teaching; what role does that content serve; and should the content be changed?"
Courses taught
Current research: The Wealth Chain Project
I lead the Wealth Chain Project. The project is the result of a competitive bidding process and is a Trust for London funded research project that combines open ended, semi structured interviews with HM Land Registry data on foreign ownership and a unique empty homes data set to gain a greater understanding of the relationship between property investment coming from offshore tax havens and socio-economic inequality in London.
Among other things, I work very closely with Action on Empty Homes in order to bring forward policy suggestions aimed at a more equitable distribution of housing wealth in the UK. I am particularly concerned by the scale of homelessness alongside growing numbers of empty homes in the capital and other cities. To that end, I sit on the Board of Action on Empty Homes and lead periodic workshops and seminars on related housing issues.
Publications
A decade of OCOD: analysing ten years of offshore-owned residential property in England and Wales
Bourne, Jonathan, Ingianni, Andrea and McKenzie, Rex, 2026, Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, E-pub ahead of print
AI shatters the pretence that academic polish was ever anything but gatekeeping
McKenzie, Rex, 2026, Wonkhe, Published
What is balance sheet driven and real estate backed?
McKenzie, Rex, 2024, Housing and Society, E-pub ahead of print
Applying the global wealth chain typology to property purchases in the Liverpool and Merseyside Area
McKenzie, Rex, Atkinson, Rowland and Ingianni, Andrea, 2023, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, E-pub ahead of print
What's in the laundromat? Mapping and characterising offshore-owned residential property in London
Bourne, Jonathan, Ingianni, Andrea and McKenzie, Rex, 2023, Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, E-pub ahead of print
What's in the laundromat? Mapping and characterising offshore owned domestic property in London
Bourne, Jonathan, Ingianni, Andrea and McKenzie, Rex, 2022, arXiv, Published
Anchoring capital in place: the grounded impact of international wealth chains on housing markets in London
McKenzie, Rex and Atkinson, Rowland, 2020, Urban Studies (57), 1pp 21-38, Published
In Ponzi's image
McKenzie, Rex, 2012, Social and Economic Studies (61), 4pp 171-203, Published
Casino capitalism with derivatives: fragility and instability in contemporary finance
McKenzie, Rex A., 2011, Review of Radical Political Economics (43), 2pp 198-215, Published
Towards a more inclusive economic analysis: reflections on Dymski's dual separation and my research on inequality and uneven development
Mc Kenzie, Rex (2024). Kingston Upon Thames, U.K.: (Kingston University) [Published]
DTI report on historical trends of industry linkages: key sector identification using (input-output analysis)
McKenzie, R., Newman, S., Mohamed, S., Gwanoya, N., Mfongeh, G. and Ncube, P. (2011). [E-pub ahead of print]
The Caribbean plantation economy and dependency theory
McKenzie, Rex and Dyveke Styve, Maria (2017). In: Kufakurinani, Ushehwedu, Harvold Kvangraven, Ingrid, Santanta, Frutuoso, Dyveke Styve, Maria, (eds.), New York, U.S.:pp 42-48 [Published]
Financialisation of non-financial corporations and households: empirical evidence from the sources and uses of funds
McKenzie, Rex and Mohamed, Seeraj (2016). In: Mohamed, Seeraj, (eds.) Financialisation, Economy, Society And Sustainable Development (FESSUD)pp 115-125 [E-pub ahead of print]
Growth of finance
McKenzie, Rex and Mohamed, Seeraj (2016). In: Mohamed, Seeraj, (eds.) Financialisation, Economy, Society And Sustainable Development (FESSUD)pp 26-37 [E-pub ahead of print]
History and evolution of the structure of South African financial system
McKenzie, Rex (2016). In: Mohamed, Seeraj, (eds.) Financialisation, Economy, Society And Sustainable Development (FESSUD)pp 38-60 [E-pub ahead of print]
Plantation meets MEC: political economy of culture in financialised South Africa
McKenzie, Rex (2016). In: Mohamed, Seeraj, (eds.) Financialisation, Economy, Society And Sustainable Development (FESSUD)pp 106-114 [E-pub ahead of print]
Privatisation in South Africa
McKenzie, Rex (2016). In: Mohamed, Seeraj, (eds.) Financialisation, Economy, Society And Sustainable Development (FESSUD)pp 136-154 [E-pub ahead of print]
South Africa's inequality: a growth path perspective
McKenzie, Rex (2016). In: Mohamed, Seeraj, (eds.) Financialisation, Economy, Society And Sustainable Development (FESSUD)pp 166-174 [E-pub ahead of print]
The nature and conduct of macroeconomic policy in South Africa
McKenzie, Rex (2016). In: Mohamed, Seeraj, (eds.) Financialisation, Economy, Society And Sustainable Development (FESSUD)pp 193-204 [E-pub ahead of print]
The political economy of South Africa and its interaction with processes of financialisation
McKenzie, Rex and Mohammed, Seeraj (2016). In: Mohamed, Seeraj, (eds.) Financialisation, Economy, Society And Sustainable Development (FESSUD)pp 11-25 [E-pub ahead of print]
Monetary transmission in Africa: a review of official sources
McKenzie, Rex A. (2016). In: McKenzie, Rex A., Comert, Hasan, (eds.), Cheltenham, U.K.:pp 123-144 [Published]
Determinants of financialisation in South Africa: a balance sheet approach
McKenzie, Rex A.(2013). [Published]
The party and the garrison
McKenzie, Rex A(2005). [Accepted/In press]
Structuralist approaches to social & economic development in the English speaking Caribbean
McKenzie, Rex A.(2005). [Published]
Theorising the hyper-capitalist urban node: financial capitalism and urban transformation in twenty-first century London
McKenzie, Rex and Koutny, Christian (2024). [Published]
Dependency and Hegemony in Neoliberal South Africa
McKenzie, Rex A. (2017). Kingston upon Thames, U.K.: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Kingston University [Published]
The Africa Rising Narrative - Whither development?
McKenzie, Rex A. (2016). Kingston upon Thames, U.K.: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Kingston University [Published]
Financial and Corporate Structure in South Africa
McKenzie, Rex A. (2016). Kingston upon Thames, U.K.: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Kingston University [Published]
Monetary transmission in Africa: a review of official sources
McKenzie, Rex A. (2015). Kingston upon Thames, U.K.: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Kingston University [Published]
Financialization and labor: what does Marikana tell us about inequality in South Africa?
McKenzie, Rex A. (2013). New York, U.S.A.: New School for Social Research [Published]
Volatile capital flows and a route to financial crisis in South Africa
Pons-Vignon, Nicolas and McKenzie, Rex (2012). Munich, Germany: MPRA University Library of Munich [Published]
Capital controls for South Africa: a case study approach
McKenzie, R., Mfongeh, G., Ncube, P., Ashman, S. and Pillay, S. (2011). [E-pub ahead of print]