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
Dr Eric Crampt on talks to Corin Dann on RNZ about the need for state spending to reduce to pre-Covid levels. Listen below. Read more
We all have our strange little hobbies. I keep an eye out for mentions of a shonky old estimate on the social cost of alcohol. Read more
Listen to Dr Eric Crampton discuss the Government's tax needs and plans:
Eric Crampton Newstalk ZB Read more
It isn’t that there are never $20 notes lying on the footpath, it’s that when markets are working well, there are strong incentives to find and pick them up. A $20 note shouldn’t have to wait very long before being grabbed. Read more
Initiative Chief Economist Eric Crampton Talks Tax Cuts & Uber vs Taxis with Sean Plunket.
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The Sen̓áḵw development near downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, won’t quite be a city within the city. But it will be close. Read more
Dr Eric Crampton joins Emile Donovan on RNZ to talk about rates and explore alternative options. Listen below. Read more
The Housing Theory of Everything has one of those wonderful self-explanatory titles. A good title matters. Read more
1.1 This submission on the Misuse of Drugs (Pseudoephedrine) Amendment Bill[1] is made by The New Zealand Initiative (the Initiative), a Wellington-based think tank supported primarily by major New Zealand businesses. In combination, our members employ more than 150,000 people. Read more
Transport historian Dr André Brett has suggested that Wellington be renamed Lowerer Hutt, perhaps to help avoid confusion within the region. Economists Matthew Maltman and Ryan Greenaway-McGrevy have been looking at Lower Hutt’s housing boom. Read more
There was remarkable agreement at the New Zealand Economics Forum last week. Waikato University’s Forum is now an annual feature of the policy calendar, barring Covid interruptions. Read more
In the past, competitors could stop each other's projects through land-use planning. Although some of that has been dialled back, it's coming back in other ways. Read more
Sean Plunket talks to Dr Eric Crampton about his latest Newsroom article about the potential consequences of NZ's Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill. Watch below. Read more
The classic Simpsons “Monorail” episode wasn’t just a cautionary tale about local council megaprojects gone wrong. Monorail salesman Lyle Lanley told the good people of Springfield that he’d “sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook. Read more
It might still be a longshot. But an interesting thread ran through this year’s Waitangi speeches and interviews. Read more