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
Some things are legitimately confusing. Canada’s low-risk drinking guidelines are not confusing. Read more
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
You might not remember 2025, even though it’s only two decades ago. AI was only just beginning. Read more
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
There is a fun sign at the Wairau Road Pak’nSave explaining the store’s story. The story began in 1987 when Foodstuffs acquired an interest in the land. Read more
The Regulatory Standards Bill before Parliament provides no enforceable legal right to compensation for the cost of regulation. It only suggests that compensation can be warranted when regulation takes or impairs property. Read more
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
Parliament faces tighter constraints when it wants to spend money than when it wishes to regulate. The Regulatory Standards Bill would set the two on slightly more equal footing. Read more
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
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
It is legal to buy books. Obviously. Read more
The New Zealand Association of Economists’ annual conference is unlike other academic conferences and better for it. The Association’s membership spans academics, officials, consultants and a few think-tankers. Read more
Parliament is supreme but it is not infallible. Governments often propose policies that are wrong in principle. Read more
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
Imagine that you owned a vacant piece of land. You were trying to decide whether to put solar panels on it to generate electricity or to plant trees on it to sequester carbon and earn carbon credits. Read more