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
It has now been a couple of weeks since we found out that the Overseas Investment Office was not being as thorough in its background character checks on investors as some might have wanted. Every day, I’ve been scanning the newspaper headlines, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Read more
Our Head of Research, Dr Eric Crampton, talks to Radio New Zealand about the housing crisis, and why Auckland Council needs to release more land for development. Read more
Heritage buildings help make New Zealand’s cities and towns beautiful. While foreign visitors might snicker that an eighty-year-old building has heritage value, the art deco styles in our small towns are jewels. Read more
Wellington’s heritage buildings make the city beautiful, but dangerous. This joint report by Deloitte New Zealand and The New Zealand Initiative looks for ways that Wellington can balance earthquake readiness and sensitivity to the city’s heritage character. Read more
It is bad enough when the government compulsorily acquires your house for a public purpose, like building a road or railway line. Sure, the government will hopefully pay a bit more than the going market rate for the property. Read more
Donald Trump is a demagogue and a proud ignoramus. Knowing nothing of the detail of policy, even in its broadest take, would be bad enough. Read more
Our Head of Research, Dr Eric Crampton, talks to Radio New Zealand about the effect of Mexico's sugar tax, suggesting that in order to emulate its effects New Zealand would need to impose a tax of at least $2 per litre of soda - something that not even public health researchers are proposing. Read more
Our Head of Research, Dr Eric Crampton, talks to Radio New Zealand about proposals for sugar taxes are not the silver bullets they are often made out to be. Read more
Some policies cut through logjams. Canada, a nation known for its lumberjacks and log drivers, might have found one that would break New Zealand’s refugee policy logjam. During last year’s Syrian refugee crisis – a crisis that has not yet ended – community groups, churches and Kiwis who care rallied to help. Read more
Our Head of Research, Dr Eric Crampton, talks to Radio New Zealand about sugar taxes, and why we should value individual freedom and personal responsibility. Read more
Our Head of Research, Dr Eric Crampton, talks to Katie Bradford from One News following a poll showing that a majority of New Zealanders currently support a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. CLICK HERE to view the video. Read more
Over at the Christchurch Press, I went through the current controversies about an Ashburton water bottling plant. New Zealand allocates water drawing rights through a consenting system. Read more
A few years ago, The New Republic held a contest for most boring news headline. “A Worthwhile Canadian Initiative” won. Read more
If you don't know what your inputs really cost, it's hard to know the real value of your company's product. Whether you build cars or make milk powder, that can cause problems. When Germany reunified after the fall of the Berlin wall, legend has it that a West German auto executive emerged weeping from a Trabant car plant. Read more
A funny thing happened in the last round of American minimum wage increases. The number of people in unpaid internships went up. Read more