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
Hard times make for bad thinking. Inflation has been running at 7.3%, or at 7.8% if you remember how the petrol excise holiday works. Read more
As a bit of police theatre, it was outstanding. Police responded to a complaint about a home in Wanaka flying an allegedly racist red flag with an ominous black insignia inscribed within a white circle. Read more
Entrepreneurship is highly rated. My son’s school even renamed their NCEA Level 1 economics paper “Entrepreneurial economics” and their accounting paper “Entrepreneurial finance.” But entrepreneurship remains underrated. Read more
Among the problems leading to the Government’s proposed Three Waters reforms were councils loading up their balance sheets with dubious debt. So it seems odd that the Government plans on loading up the balance sheets of amalgamated water service entities with dubious debt. Read more
This supplementary submission in response to the Emissions Reduction Plan is made by The New Zealand Initiative (the Initiative), a Wellington-based think tank supported primarily by major New Zealand businesses. It should be read in conjunction with our initial submission of 27 June 2022. Read more
Dr Eric Crampton interviews Client Service Lead for Milestone Solutions, Scott Wilson, in this follow up interview to their discussion about transport funding and getting roads built. In this episode they talk about the history of how New Zealand funded and financed roads, and the structures of getting roads approved. Read more
Eric Crampton, Chief Economist from The New Zealand Initiative speaks with Sean Plunket on if the NZ Government needs to be checked.
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Mike Hosking from Newstalk ZB reviews Eric Crampton's recent Dominion Post article about excessive government. Read more
Joseph Heller invented one of literature’s better paradoxes. In his classic World War II novel, Catch-22, only a madman would be willing to fly nearly suicidal missions. Read more
This submission on the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Bill is made by the New Zealand Initiative and the Reason Foundation, a non-profit U.S.-based think-tank. The Reason Foundation’s nonpartisan public policy research promotes choice, competition, and a dynamic market economy as the foundation for human dignity and progress. Read more
A dinner game Gather round, children. I have a sad fable to tell. Read more
Eric Crampton discusses with Heather Du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk ZB the Auckland Council's Transport Emissions Reduction Pathway. Read more
A friend who worked in one of the Ministries years ago called it “Hiding the cheese”. It’s a fun game for the Ministries, hiding the cheese. Read more
In Frank Hebert’s classic Dune series, the Bene Gesserit sisterhood’s supernatural abilities extended only so far. There was a place where their powers could not see – a place that repelled and terrified them. Read more
In Douglas Adams’s classic Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, Wonko the Sane realised that the world had gone mad. He had seen the instructions on the side of a packet of toothpicks. Read more