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 the 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
When US psychologist Jonathan Haidt published The Righteous Mind in 2012, he himself may not have known how prescient it would be. The book’s subtitle is Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. Read more
Late last year, embattled Chancellor Angela Merkel resigned the leadership of her Christian Democrat CDU party and announced she would not seek a fifth term. After a tight contest, the party’s general manager Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer succeeded Merkel as leader. Read more
Flames and smoke on the roof of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris: When I saw the pictures, still half-asleep, early Tuesday morning, my first thought was the fire was so high up that perhaps some aerial firefighting support was called for. Upon further consideration, and with the benefit of having woken up by then, I realised that was a daft idea. Read more
Last week, we all saw the first-ever image of a black hole scientists have been able to create. Once sucked into a black hole, you get pulled apart into smithereens while time stands still. Read more
Since the release of the Tomorrow’s Schools report last December, the education community has been talking about nearly every aspect of school organisation: Who should govern schools? For what term lengths should principals be appointed? Read more
“What do we want? Evidence-based policy! Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich discusses how our comprehensive, year-long econometric analysis buries the old myth that school quality is linked to school decile. Our findings are published in our latest Research Note, Tomorrow's Schools: Data and Evidence. Read more
Our latest research, Tomorrow's Schools: Data and Evidence, carried out over a year, looked at data of 400,000 students and revealed there are no significant differences in school performance between schools of different deciles. Dr Oliver Hartwich, the Initiative's Executive Director discussed our research on Radio New Zealand. Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich speaks to Guyon Espiner about our latest research, Tomorrow's Schools: Data and Evidence. This report comes at the end of a comprehensive, year-long data analysis of 400,000 students and shows that once family background is separated out, most schools have about the same impact on their students' learning - no matter their decile. Read more
Of all the people in the world, former British Prime Minister David Cameron is probably the last person anyone wants to listen to on Brexit. After all, it was Cameron’s idea to hold the 2016 referendum that started the downfall. Read more
When Housing Minister Phil Twyford spoke at the Initiative’s retreat last week, I had only one regret about having invited him: Our event is held under Chatham House rules. You see, under Chatham House rules you cannot report or attribute anything that is said at the conference. Read more
Germany and Switzerland have long been famous for exporting cars, machinery and chemicals to all parts of the world. They are now becoming well-known as exporters of their dual education model. Read more
Even three days after the Christchurch massacre, we are still looking for words to describe how we feel. Shock, disbelief and anger are on our minds. Read more
“A regional outbreak of an infectious disease requires emergency mass vaccinations of about 125,000 people.” What sounds like a report from the distant past or a developing country happened only this week, in New Zealand. Measles is back. Read more
When Queenstown Lakes District council announced a referendum last week on imposing a levy on visitors to the tourist hub, it made headlines around Otago. In fact, the proposal potentially has implications for infrastructure and tax reform across New Zealand. Read more