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
We are going to miss central bank independence when it is gone. It was hard-fought. Read more
Watching government agencies scramble to find solutions to problems they or other government agencies caused is darkly amusing. They rarely notice the root cause of the problem they are trying to solve, or that their proposed solutions only set the stage for the next round of problems to come. Read more
James Michael Curley, Mayor of Boston four times between 1914 and 1950, knew how to win an election. Curley’s key to victory? Read more
The Government has announced they will confiscate councils’ three water assets, despite widespread opposition from mayors, councillors, and ratepayers. Ben Craven sits down with Oliver Hartwich, Matt Burgess and Eric Crampton to discuss what the proposals will mean for councils; the winners and losers; and why centralised control of water assets is not the answer to local water issues. Read more
Eric Crampton told Heather Du Plessis-Alan on Newstalk ZB that vaccinated people should get hospital priority. New Zealand only has 183 ICU beds, so cases will be dealt with based on urgent need. Read more
Trolley problems are fun thought experiments in the philosophy and economics classroom. A trolley is hurtling down the track and will run over 10 people, unless you pull the lever. Read more
Those of us whose families are far away across wide oceans found a bit of hope this week. Entering New Zealand will really be rather simple. Read more
Wellington (Tuesday, 19 October 2021) – Today, the Government took a significant step toward restoring housing affordability. The New Zealand Initiative enthusiastically welcomed the announcement, supported by Labour and National, of a broad upzoning across urban centres where housing is terribly unaffordable. Read more
In 1996, Reserve Bank Governor Don Brash highlighted the political importance of speed in the 1980s reform agenda. Drawing on an earlier speech by Sir Roger Douglas, he noted that “opponents’ fire is much less accurate if they have to shoot at a rapidly moving target.” Policy over the past two years have moved at similar pace, but rather less coherently, and in the middle of a global pandemic that also requires at least some minor attention from the ministries. Read more
It is not clear how the government’s Emissions Reduction Plan can reduce emissions. The government is proposing massive interventions in everything from energy to transport to manufacturing. Read more
In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Arthur Dent found the Council’s plans to bowl his house, to make way for a bypass, the day before its scheduled demolition. The plans had been publicly consulted, of course. Read more
Wellington (Tuesday, 12 October 2021) – The New Zealand Initiative is urging the Government to substantially reconsider a provision in the COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill (No. 2) that would allow it to commandeer private Covid testing facilities and equipment such as those of Rako Science. The egregious provision and its implications for New Zealand’s testing capability were the subject of the New Zealand Initiative’s submission on the Bill. Read more
The Initiative has followed Covid policy closely since early 2020. We have published several reports and briefing notes on Covid policy; that work has included discussion of Covid testing and policy related to it. Read more
There’s an old saying that makes the rounds now and again, with various attributions. “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” I wonder how this one is going to end for Rako Science. Read more
How can New Zealand improve its Covid response? Dr Eric Crampton joins Ben Craven to talk about his latest research note Safer Arrivals and the Path to 2022. Read more