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
Last year’s cannabis referendum failed by a 51% to 49% margin. Drug reform advocates have since suggested decriminalising drug possession as alternative. Read more
The government faces increasing debt levels if it does not get the cost of an aging population under control. Eric Crampton talks to Wallace Chapman on Radio NZ - The Panel about Treasury's projections and whether the superannuation age should be raised. Read more
By the end of the year, all going well, everyone in New Zealand who wants to be vaccinated against Covid-19 will be vaccinated against Covid-19. All of the developed world barring Australia is rolling out vaccination more quickly than New Zealand. Read more
Oliver Hartwich and Eric Crampton talk to Nelson-based immigration advisor Carsten Hallwass about New Zealand’s immigration settings and the effect of Covid-19. If you would like to listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more
Last week’s post-Covid fiscal and monetary policy workshop, hosted jointly by the Reserve Bank and Treasury, seemed designed to warm the policy economics community to higher levels of public debt. While low interest rates mean investment projects that might not normally make the grade can now stack up, stacking up debt builds its own fragility. Read more
This week, a strong majority of Australian economists came out in support of a policy measure to encourage electric vehicle adoption on their side of the Tasman. But they did not support subsidies for electric vehicles. Read more
The vehicle feebate scheme announced Sunday might result in more electric vehicles, but it cannot affect net carbon emissions. Transport is covered by the Emissions Trading Scheme’s binding cap on net emissions. Read more
The practicalities of the Government’s new ‘feebate’ scheme are still unclear, as the Financial Services Federation’s Lyn McMorran explains in a conversation with Eric Crampton, Matt Burgess and Oliver Hartwich. If you would like to listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more
Matt Burgess, Eric Crampton, Oliver Hartwich and Bryce Wilkinson discuss the Government’s new feebate scheme. Will it help to cut emissions? Read more
A movie about the Prime Minister’s response to the Christchurch mosque attacks looks less likely by the day. That is for the best. Read more
Transport Minister Michael Wood has hinted that congestion charging could be made available to local councils. Dr Eric Crampton discusses congestion charging with Wallace Chapman on Radio New Zealand - The Panel. Read more
Anyone who’s gone through strategic planning reviews at places of business under financial distress knows they’re often a prelude to redundancies. Too often, reviews look to see what might be cut, and what can be made of what is left, rather than building toward new opportunities. Read more
The New Zealand government’s approach to border management, contrary to popular belief, is not terrified of risk. It is far worse than that. Read more
How long will the America's Cup stay in New Zealand ? Team NZ is currently in exclusive negotiations with the government and Auckland Council to host the next event. Read more
Eric Crampton talks to Jesse Mulligan on Radio NZ about the next steps for New Zealand in a Covid-19 world. Read more