Eric is the Chief Economist at The New Zealand Initiative. With the Initiative, he has worked in policy areas ranging from freshwater management to policy for earthquake preparedness, and from local government to technology policy. He has recently focused on policy related to Covid-19 response. He served as Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Economics at the Department of Economics & Finance at the University of Canterbury from 2003 through 2014.
Eric’s columns and commentary appear regularly in New Zealand’s major media outlets, as well as on his blog, Offsetting Behaviour. He can also be found on Twitter at @ericcrampton .
Submission: Transforming Recycling - Container Return Scheme (2022)
Submission: Wellington Council on the Draft Economic Wellbeing Strategy (2022)
Submission: Managing exotic afforestation incentives (2022)
Submission: The market study into residential building supplies preliminary issues paper (2022)
Submission: Issues raised at the consultation conference on the Commission's market study into the retail grocery sector draft report (2021)
Submission: Resource management enabling housing supply and other matters Amendment Bill (2021)
Submission: Covid-19 public health response Amendment Bill (no 2) (2021)
Research Note: Safer arrivals and the path to 2022 (2021)
Submission: The market study into the retail grocery sector draft report (2021)
Fording the rapids: Charting a course to fresher water (2021)
Submission: Proposals for a smokefree Aotearoa 2025 action plan (2021)
Submission: Inquiry into congestion pricing in Auckland (2021)
Policy Point: A risky place to do business (2021)
Roadmap for Recovery: Briefing to the Incoming Government (2020)
Submission: Smokefree environments and regulated products Act 1990: Proposals for regulations (2021)
Democracy in the Dark (2020)
Research Note: Safe Arrivals (2020)
Policy Point: Open for minds: export education and recovery (2020)
Submission: Smokefree environments and regulated products (vaping) Amendment Bill (2020)
Policy Point: Stay on Target (2020)
Research Note: Effective Treatment: Public policy prescription for a pandemic (2020)
Policy Point: Time to process (2020)
Scroll down to read the rest of Eric's work.
Phone: +64 4 499 0790
Anyone who has read Douglas Adams's excellent Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy knows about the Vogon race of Vogsphere – the galaxy’s natural bureaucrats. They’re officious and callous. Read more
Public servants jumping roles may have melted the Government's pay freeze. The policy that was introduced for high-paid public servants during the Covid-19 pandemic has now ended. Read more
This submission in response to the Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Legislation Bill is made by The New Zealand Initiative (the Initiative), a Wellington-based think tank supported primarily by major New Zealand businesses. Read more
Wellington (Wednesday, 29 March 2023) – The New Zealand Initiative has damned the consultation process for the Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Legislation Bill. It urges that the Bill be amended to force rigorous post-enactment scrutiny, with the legislation repealed by 30 September if that scrutiny does not take place. Read more
More families could receive a $72.50 a week tax credit, as part of a massive and fundamental change to the system, after a review of the $3 billion Working for Families tax credit system that ended last year. A review of the scheme, which currently supports just under 350,000 families with children, is before Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni, and has found serious design issues in the way some of the tax credits are applied. Read more
It’s hard to find fans of the Resource Management Act. But will the government’s proposed reforms be an improvement? Read more
The Platform's Sean Plunket interviewed Eric Crampton on targeted government support packages.
Read more
Police Minister Stuart Nash was right about retail crime. Solving the problem, as he suggested, requires reducing the number of targets. Read more
Mike Hosking discusses Eric Crampton's Newsroom column about managing retreat and insurance in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle. Read more
Managed retreat from floods and rising sea levels seems like a difficult problem. How to decide who might be allowed to live where, and what risks are acceptable? Read more
Massive worker shortages across numerous industries have led to calls for more immigration, on other side of the debate there are concerns about infrastructure capacity. This to and fro has long made a immigration a political football kicked between the parties. Read more
Director of Economics for the Infrastructure Commission, Peter Nunns, talks to Eric Crampton, Chief Economist for The New Zealand Initiative, about his research on the cost to deliver infrastructure in New Zealand and the need to improve the efficiency of our infrastructure sector, rather than only focusing on broadening the funding and financing options available to it. For more, please read the Infrastructure Commission’s report, “The lay of the land: Benchmarking New Zealand’s infrastructure delivery costs.” To listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more
Twelve years ago, an earthquake flattened much of Christchurch’s downtown. Civil defence, as well as those nearby and able to help, responded immediately to rescue those trapped. Read more
It has been a terrible couple of weeks. Assessing and costing cyclone damage from Northland to Wairarapa, but especially in Hawke’s Bay, will take months. Read more
Resilient infrastructure is crucial for protecting people during disasters and ensuring that communities can bounce back quickly in the aftermath of a crisis. Two powerful examples of this can be seen in New Zealand's response to the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and, more recently, Cyclone Gabrielle. Read more