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 .
Latest reports:
Roadmap for Recovery: Briefing to the Incoming Government (2020)
Democracy in the Dark (2020)
Safe Arrivals (2020)
Policy Point: Open for minds: export education and recovery (2020)
Policy Point: Stay on Target (2020)
Research Note: Effective Treatment: Public policy prescription for a pandemic (2020)
Policy Point: Time to Process (2020)
Research Note: Seeing the problem, but missing the point: Decile dilemmas (2019)
Research Note: The Unreserved Bank of New Zealand: Why unorthodox monetary policy needs boundaries (2019)
Policy Point: Biting education bullets (2019)
Refreshing Water: Valuing the priceless (2019)
Score! Transforming NCEA Data (2018)
Recipe for disaster: Building policy on shaky ground (2018)
Analog Regulation, Digital World (2017)
The Outside of the Asylum: A New Zealander’s guide to the world out there (2017)
Decade of Debt: The Cost of Interest-free Student Loans (2016)
Deadly Heritage (2016)
In the Zone: Creating a Toolbox for Regional Prosperity (2015)
The Case for Economic Growth (2015)
Phone: +64 4 499 0790
Governments have a hard time planning for longer term risks. Unless a specific risk, like climate change, draws voters’ attention, it is more likely to be ignored. Read more
Chief economist Dr Eric Crampton spoke on Newstalk ZB about the Government signing a memorandum of understanding with Amazon for a 25% subsidy on its Lord of the Rings TV series. He says film subsidy regimes are wasteful competition as countries scramble to attract film producers. Read more
If you’d thought that sorting Wellington’s transport issues was at the heart of the latest efforts to solve Wellington’s transport issues, well, you don’t know Wellington. For the past five years, Let’s Get Wellington Moving has been consulting with over ten thousand people and 75 stakeholder groups. Read more
New Zealand is not among the world’s most geologically stable places. The Christchurch earthquake was just over a decade ago. Read more
Bubbles are beautiful but fragile things. Not letting the new one break matters. Read more
In this week's Initiative podcast, and ahead of the trans Tasman bubble opening up on 19 April 2021, Chief Economist Dr Eric Crampton discusses the safety measures that should already be in place to make this a success and, hopefully, put New Zealand on track to open up bubbles with other low-risk countries.
The New Zealand Initiative · PODCAST: Dr Eric Crampton discusses safety measures around the opening of the Trans Tasman bubble Read more
Three roads bounded the farm where I grew up in Southern Manitoba. To the East was the highway. Read more
Local government is fundamentally broken because of the way councils are financed, how the costs and benefits of urban growth are divvied up, and the incentives thus created. Councils bear the costs of growth. Read more
One year ago, in a desperate rush, the government launched the wage subsidy scheme. It had to be done in a hurry; every other option was worse. Read more
On Tuesday morning, 23 March 2021, the Government announced a set of housing policies that, among other things would substantially change the tax treatment of interest payments on residential investment properties. The changes to tax policy are substantial. Read more
Oliver Hartwich, Eric Crampton, Bryce Wilkinson and David Law discuss the Government's new housing package.
The New Zealand Initiative · The Government's Housing Package Read more
The recipe for creating conflict over scarce and congestible resources is really rather simple. Start with beautiful natural spaces that attract visitors. Read more
In the classic Simpsons’ episode “The Old Man and the Lisa”, young environmentalist Lisa Simpson finally convinced the rather evil Mr Burns of the merits of recycling. Of course, it did not go well. Read more
It’s a good thing I don’t vape. If I did, I’d be depressed about the Ministry of Health’s proposed vaping regulations. Read more
Read our submission, written by Dr Eric Crampton to The Ministry of Health. This submission is in response to the public consultation document, Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990: Proposals for regulation. Read more