Final Oliver Hartwich

Dr Oliver Hartwich

Executive Director

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

Email: oliver.hartwich@nzinitiative.org.nz

Recent Work

Jacinda v4

Saint Jacinda

Every time I read another excitable media article about New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern, I am reminded of an old quip: ‘Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.’ That was Publius Cornelius Tacitus (AD 58-120). Were this Roman intellectual and historian alive today, he would make a great New York Times columnist. Read more

Dr Oliver Hartwich
The Spectator
31 January, 2021
carbon budget

Budgeting analysis

This week, Stuff’s Thomas Coughlan uncovered an extraordinary story of last-minute heroics by officials who demanded good practice on an important decision. As Cabinet prepared to make its final decision on the proposed Auckland light rail project in February 2020, Treasury intervened. Read more

Dr Oliver Hartwich
Insights Newsletter
29 January, 2021
Capture v4

Policy Essay: Effective and affordable – Why the ETS is sufficient to deal with the climate emergency

Thanks to the work of successive climate change ministers from David Parker to James Shaw, New Zealand has a world-leading Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). We should rely on it to drive down our carbon emissions, argues the Initiative’s executive director Dr Oliver Hartwich. Read more

Dr Oliver Hartwich
Policy Essay
10 December, 2020
Megaphone v5

Freely Speaking #5: What went wrong with our education system?

In this episode of the New Zealand Initiative podcast operations director Chelsy Killick and executive director Oliver Hartwich share their experiences with researching the problems with Kiwi education. Both have been with the Initiative for its entire eight year existence, and during that time, have chronicled the deterioration of education since they were at school in New Zealand and in Germany. Read more

Dr Oliver Hartwich
Chelsy Killick
Podcast
4 December, 2020
Mic v10

Quick take: How Italy’s debt crisis will shake the EU system

In this Quick Take podcast, Oliver Hartwich explains why Italy’s dire debt situation threatens the European Union's integrity and why no one in the bloc wants to think about forgiving the country’s enormous loans anytime soon. 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

Dr Oliver Hartwich
Podcast
3 December, 2020
italy and eu flags

The fiscal mess provoking fears of an Italian exit

When the Covid-19 crisis first struck Italy earlier this year, this column warned it might set off a chain of events that would wreck the Mediterranean country’s economy. On 10 March (A catastrophe that will cripple Italy), I pointed out that Italy would experience an economic collapse as public debt soared past 150 percent of GDP. Read more

Dr Oliver Hartwich
Newsroom
1 December, 2020
Megaphone v4

Freely Speaking #4: Why is NZ’s housing market so messed up?

In this episode of the Initiative’s Freely Speaking podcast, Matt Burgess, Eric Crampton and Oliver Hartwich trade hypotheses on why the New Zealand housing market is so broken with a few comparisons in Europe and how a change of incentives for local councils might be a big part of the solution. 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

Dr Oliver Hartwich
Dr Eric Crampton
Podcast
27 November, 2020

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