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
Government clean car scheme breaks EV records, but ‘Ute Tax’ may need to rise to pay for discounts. New Zealand broke two records for electric vehicles in the month of December, capping off a year of surging demand for clean cars. Read more
This submission in response to the Grocery Industry Competition Bill is made by The New Zealand Initiative (the Initiative), a Wellington-based think tank supported primarily by major New Zealand businesses. The Initiative has been actively involved in the Commerce Commission’s market study process investigating retail grocery competition. Read more
Bad constitutional processes are necessarily worse than bad policy processes. Constitutions, whether written or unwritten, are our basic rules about how we make laws and elect representatives. Read more
Sean Plunket talks with NZ Initiative's Dr Eric Crampton who gives us an economic wrap-up for 2022. Read more
In this week's podcast The New Zealand Initiative's chief economist, Dr Eric Crampton, chats with Jonathan Alve, National Operations Manager at Hospitality New Zealand, about proposed amendments to the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act and the challenges these may hold for licence holders. To listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more
Perhaps the timing was simply a coincidence. But not long after central government firmed up its intention to take water infrastructure away from local government, and its intention to shift planning up from local councils to regional bodies, Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta opened a review of local government. Read more
A rowboat drifts at sea, water seeping in from a hole in its side. Its captain has engineered all kinds of ingenious devices to bail out the boat and to dry sodden things. Read more
The Royal Commission announced this week will not help voters provide better-informed brickbats or bouquets in 2023. The inquiry will focus instead on lessons for future pandemics and will report back well after the election. Read more
This week's podcast is a Free Kiwis episode. Drs Michael Johnston and James Kierstead discussed a range of issues with Dr Eric Crampton. Read more
There’s a fundamental arbitrariness to almost any voting age. Except one. Read more
Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence. Even still, it is hard to see how policy could be less friendly to entry by grocers like Aldi or Lidl if it were intentional. Read more
Eric Crampton talks to Kate Hawkesby on Newstalk ZB - Early Edition about the recent increase of the Official Cash Rate (OCR) from 3.5 percent to 4.25 percent. Read more
NZ Initiative’s Eric Crampton chats with Sean Plunket about the OCR increase.
Read more
Wellington (Wednesday, 23 November 2022) – In the leadup to today’s Official Cash Rate decision, New Zealand’s economists warn that inflation expectations are unhinged and that government deficits are worsening the problem. They also remind us that New Zealand cannot maintain current employment levels by accepting high inflation rates. Read more
Last week, the government released the first parts of its proposed overhaul of the resource management system. If passed into law, the Natural and Built Environment Bill will, over a transition period, replace the Resource Management Act. Read more