Oliver is the Executive Director of The New Zealand Initiative. Before joining the Initiative, he was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, the Chief Economist at Policy Exchange in London, and an advisor in the UK House of Lords. Oliver holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Business administration and a PhD in Law from Bochum University in Germany.
Oliver is available to comment on all of the Initiative’s research areas.
Submission: A New Zealand Income Insurance Scheme (2022)
Policy Essay: Effective and affordable – Why the ETS is sufficient to deal with the climate emergency (2020)
Research Note: The Unreserved Bank of New Zealand: Why unorthodox monetary policy needs boundaries (2019)
#localismNZ: Bringing power to the people (2019)
Submission: Future of Tax (2018)
Submission: Overseas Investment Amendment Bill (2018)
Scroll down to read the rest of Oliver's work.
Phone: +64 4 499 0790
“There is a lot of ruin in a nation.” It is one of those sayings that is easy to misinterpret. Taking Adam Smith’s famous quote literally, there are so many ways for a country to go wrong. Read more
Let’s imagine a computer game, shall we? It is called ‘Master Lobbyist’, and your job is to play the governments of two countries off against each other. Read more
New Zealand has just received its 2023 Budget. Our Government has a clear predilection for spending. Read more
Perhaps he never quite played in the same league as Trump, Putin and Xi, but Turkey’s long-serving President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is cut from the same strongman cloth. Yet after Sunday’s first-round of Turkish presidential elections, there is a chance his time in power may soon come to an end. Read more
Sean Plunket talks to Dr. Oliver Hartwich from The New Zealand Initiative - NZ is now a mediocre country. Read more
The world thinks of New Zealand as the land of the long white cloud. Renowned for its stunning natural beauty and resources, it is considered an island paradise. Read more
In this thought-provoking episode, the Initiative’s economists – Dr Oliver Hartwich, Dr Eric Crampton, Dr Tony Burton, and Dr Bryce Wilkinson – dive into the debate over whether Australia is a better option for skilled talent. They discuss the current challenges faced by New Zealand in terms of health, education, and infrastructure, and how the nation's performance is deteriorating relative to Australia. Read more
Once upon a time, in a picturesque village nestled among green rolling hills under a long white cloud, there was a popular pub called The Nosy Parker. It was notorious for its silent dramas, where opinions and conflicts were expertly swept under the carpet. Read more
It is sometimes a personal experience that brings abstract policy discussions to life. And so let me share with you a chat I had last Friday with an Uber driver in Auckland. Read more
The Initiative team has welcomed a new addition to their team with the appointment of Tony Burton as a Research Fellow. Tony has a PhD in economics and philosophy from the University of East Anglia researching game theory and choice under uncertainty. Read more
After a massive amount of fiscal and monetary stimulus, New Zealand’s economy overheated. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) faces an uphill battle to bring inflation under control. Read more
A critical analysis of the Covid-19 pandemic management in New Zealand A pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) continues both worldwide and in New Zealand. Although estimates are that half the New Zealand population have been infected, more likely almost every citizen has come into contact with the virus in some way. Read more
It would be an understatement to say France has long sought to define and assert its position. Because with France, you sometimes do not even know who it regards as its friends and foes. Read more