Final Eric Crampton

Dr Eric Crampton

Chief Economist

Eric Crampton is Chief Economist with the New Zealand Initiative. 

He applies an economist’s lens to a broad range of policy areas, from devolution and housing policy to student loans and environmental policy. He served on Minister Twyford’s Urban Land Markets Research Group and on Minister Bishop’s Housing Economic Advisory Group.  
Most recently, he has been looking at devolution to First Nations in Canada. 

He is a regular columnist with Stuff and with Newsroom; his economic and policy commentary appears across most media outlets. He can also be found on Twitter at @ericcrampton 

Phone: +64 4 499 0790

Email: eric.crampton@nzinitiative.org.nz

Recent Work

Podcast: Barriers to cheaper building materials

In this episode, Eric talks to Michael Simcock, a structural engineer and recent MBA graduate, about the complex challenges preventing the introduction of cheaper building materials in New Zealand. They dive deep into the regulatory, technical, and economic barriers that make it difficult to use alternative building products, exploring how unique building codes, testing requirements, and the small scale of the New Zealand construction market create obstacles to reducing building costs. Read more

Dr Eric Crampton
Michael Simcock
25 July, 2025

Podcast: Going for Housing Growth (Part 3): The Government’s proposals - Transformation or incremental change?

In this final episode of their three-part series, Dr Eric Crampton, Dr Benno Blaschke and Dr Stuart Donovan critically examine the government's housing discussion document, assessing its potential to create more competitive urban land markets. They explore whether the proposed reforms genuinely move towards a more responsive and dynamic urban development system or remain trapped in existing planning paradigms. To listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more

Dr Eric Crampton
Dr Stu Donovan
18 July, 2025

Podcast: Going for Housing Growth (Part 2): The way out - The benefits of competitive urban land markets

In this second episode of their three-part series on New Zealand's housing crisis, Eric Crampton continues the discussion with Stu Donovan and Benno Blaschke, exploring what competitive urban land markets could look like. Building on their previous exploration of how New Zealand's housing became dysfunctional, they now examine the ideal alternative to the current system, detailing how a more responsive urban environment could address the structural issues discussed in Part 1. Read more

Dr Eric Crampton
Dr Stu Donovan
11 July, 2025

Dr Eric Crampton and Dr Bryce Wilkinson's submission on the Regulatory Standards Bill | Finance and Expenditure Committee

Dr Eric Crampton and Dr Bryce Wilkinson presented a submission to the Finance and Expenditure Committee on day four of hearings into the Regulatory Standards Bill, supporting the legislation while proposing nine recommendations to improve regulatory accountability and transparency. The submission emphasised the bill's potential to provide greater scrutiny of regulations, address economic challenges like housing affordability and productivity, and create a mechanism for Parliament to better understand the implications of proposed legislation. Read more

Dr Eric Crampton
Dr Bryce Wilkinson ONZM
10 July, 2025

Podcast: Going for Housing Growth (Part 1): How we got into this mess - Struggling with uncompetitive urban land markets

In this episode, Eric Crampton talks to Benno Blaschke and Stu Donovan (Senior Fellow at Motu) about the complex history of New Zealand's housing crisis, exploring the first part of a three-part series on housing dysfunction. They delve into the underlying causes of housing unaffordability, exploring how urban planning policies, council incentives, and infrastructure constraints have contributed to limited housing supply in major cities like Auckland. Read more

Dr Eric Crampton
Dr Stu Donovan
4 July, 2025

Prediction markets reveal odds on Iran’s nuclear future, regime change

Late night ‘situation monitoring’ on Twitter when Israel and America are bombing Iranian nuclear weapons facilities is not ideal for a good night’s sleep. Possible outcomes seemed to range from a happy and peaceful shift to a more liberal Iranian government, through to serious regional or broader war with a nuclear-armed Iran. Read more

Dr Eric Crampton
NZ Herald
26 June, 2025

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