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.
Phone: +64 4 499 0790
It is hard to know where to begin, there is so much wrong with the Government’s housing package presented on Tuesday. I leave it to my colleague David Law to explain why the measures introduced will hurt housing affordability and supply. Read more
Oliver Hartwich, Eric Crampton, Bryce Wilkinson and David Law discuss the Government's new housing package.
The New Zealand Initiative · The Government's Housing Package Read more
Matt Burgess and Oliver Hartwich sit down to discuss Oliver's recent Newsroom column on what we can learn from the European ETS experience, and how it relates to some of the finer points in the Climate Change Commission's draft emissions report.
The New Zealand Initiative · Matt Burgess and Oliver Hartwich discuss emissions policy Read more
As New Zealand discusses the recommendations of the Climate Change Commission, I get a sense of déjà vu. We are now talking about industry-specific regulations, bans on certain technologies (such as petrol and diesel cars) and subsidies for others (such as electric vehicles). Read more
Filings to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rarely have entertainment value. That is unless Elon Musk is involved. Read more
Once upon a time, Arthur Miller said, “A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself.” These days, many media outlets are talking only to segments of the population. For the New Zealand media, 2021 has been a year of cancellations. Read more
In this week's Initiative podcast, Executive Director Oliver Hartwich and Operations Director Chelsy Killick discuss who will succeed Angela Merkel as the next German Chancellor? He says Merkel won't be running for another term, but that is about the only certainty in this year's election. Read more
As a commentator on European affairs, there is no question I have heard more often in recent months than who will replace Angela Merkel. Two years ago, Germany’s long-serving Chancellor announced she would not be running for a fifth term in the 2021 election. Read more
On Tuesday, the Climate Change Commission extended the deadline for submissions on its draft recommendations by two weeks. The short extension would give the extra bit of time needed to receive crucial information from the Commission before submissions close. Read more
“Demography is destiny”, as French sociologist Auguste Comte once put it. Few developments shape our society more than the composition, the age and size of our population. Read more
A couple of weeks ago, in this place, I wrote about my humbling experience playing the new politics simulation Democracy 4. Running a country successfully and getting re-elected were near impossible tasks, I concluded. Read more
It does not happen every day that I find myself in agreement with the Ministry of Education. But their reasoning for introducing a New Zealand history curriculum is sound. Read more
In this week's podcast, our Operations Director Chelsy Killick talks with Oliver Hartwich about the Government's proposal for a new New Zealand history curriculum. 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
In this week's podcast, Oliver Hartwich expands on his Newsroom column (9 February), where he discusses how the EU's Covid-19 vaccine rollout disaster is shredding the Commission's credibility. 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
When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. That is what it must be like for the government in the housing crisis. Read more