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
The problem isn’t just that the Provincial Growth Fund is poorly managed with slipshod standards and politically-driven spending decisions. The problem is that it exists at all. Read more
Family coming to stay for the weekend is hardly a reason for home renovations. In a pinch, folks can bunk in together for a while. Read more
This week, the Government announced that the real price of entering New Zealand for many returning Kiwis, for loved ones trapped abroad, and for others who might wish safely to join this lifeboat, is infinite. No amount of money will get anyone else into the country. Read more
Free parking isn’t free. Whether it’s an unmetered on-street parking space, or a parking space that comes bundled with an apartment or house, or the off-street parking space in front of a shop that you’ve not had to pay to use, they all have a price. Read more
Up to a million Kiwis live overseas with a right to return to New Zealand. While the country is now effectively free of Covid-19, with cases only in the country’s quarantine facilities, the pandemic rages abroad and is unlikely to abate anytime soon. Read more
An old Australian tourism ad highlighted empty gorgeous beaches, wide-open spaces and asked viewers, “So where the bloody hell are you?” The ad was top-of-mind as our family toured the South Island over school holidays. Up to a million Kiwis live overseas. Read more
As we expect the Covid-19 pandemic to continue for many months if not years, we must find ways to re-engage with the world safely. Chief Economist Eric Crampton makes in a new report practical recommendations on how New Zealand can safely re-open our border. Read more
Eric Crampton discusses his new report on how New Zealand’s border capabilities can be safely scaled-up with Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB. He says instead of charging returning Kiwis for their stay in managed isolation, the government could provide them with vouchers. Read more
Most of the country is still reeling from the drastic lockdown response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The major cities are hurting, but it’s not until one travels to rural New Zealand that the simmering economic issues appear. Read more
The longer the Covid-19 pandemic rages abroad, the more important it will be to keep New Zealand’s borders safe. Border safety cannot mean closing them since up to a million Kiwis live overseas and have a right to return. Read more
Some conversations are difficult, but critical. This week, Sir Peter Gluckman, the Rt Hon Helen Clark, and Rob Fyfe released a short ‘conversation paper’ called Re-engaging New Zealand with the World. Read more
We all know the analogy about barring gates after the horse has bolted from the barn. It speaks to the futility of doing something too late solve a problem. Read more
On this week’s New Zealand Initiative podcast, Kiwis are set to vote in a referendum to legalise cannabis on September 19. It’s a controversial topic for some, but chief economist Dr Eric Crampton says thinking about cannabis from an economic perspective can help clear up many misconceptions and worries. Read more
It’s been hard to get a decent night’s sleep lately. Stories of the Government’s mismanagement of its quarantine facilities and of the pandemic worsening abroad make for restless nights thinking through safer ways of running those operations. Read more
The average cost of each stay by Kiwis in hotel quarantine here is over $3,000. That cost is being footed by the taxpayer. Read more