MEDIA

Wellington, 24 March 2020 – The New Zealand Initiative says the Government must change its approach towards wage subsidies to avoid a mass lay-off of jobs and the potential destruction of many companies. In a new paper called Short-time work to maintain employment, New Zealand could preserve an extra 3-4% of jobs – even during the harshest economic impact of the Covid-19 shutdowns – by adopting a successful European policy tested during the GFC. Read more

Eric Crampton looked at potential economic policy responses to the Covid-19 pandemic in his regular Radio New Zealand Nights slot, Read more

Wellington 23 March 2020 - BusinessNZ and The New Zealand Initiative are encouraging the Government to go further with its economic support package, saying the support package announced last week was the right first step and was greatly appreciated but needed to go further. The New Zealand Initiative’s Executive Director Dr Oliver Hartwich and BusinessNZ’s CEO Kirk Hope noted the Australian Government’s move yesterday, launching a second amount of support and signaling that more was coming. Read more

Oliver Hartwich talks to Heather du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk ZB about the Government's Covid-19 economic support package. He argues it is a good first step, but more work needs to be done. Read more

Wellington, 17 March 2020 - We welcome the Government’s measures to tackle Covid-19 in New Zealand. In particular, we welcome the recently announced travel restrictions, the increased health funding and the support to business. Read more

Eric Crampton joins Radio New Zealand's The Panel to talk about the coronavirus economic package released by the government to help mitigate the impact of border restrictions. Read more

Wellington, 16 March 2020 - The New Zealand Initiative welcomes the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s move to cut interest rates and suspend the tightening of bank capital requirements. However, the Initiative’s Chief Economist Dr Eric Crampton warns that more will be necessary. Read more

There is no doubt that COVID-19 will impact global economies. The Project has asked some of the country’s smartest financial experts, including our Chief Economist Eric Crampton, for their advice on how people can keep their money safe. Read more

Wellington, 6 March 2020 – A groundbreaking new tool could give parents and principals the first objective measurement of New Zealand school performance, says a new report released today by The New Zealand Initiative. Insights and Excellence: School success in New Zealand demonstrates the quality of information, analysis and reporting that could be provided to every parent and principal in the country using the data already collected by the Ministry of Education and other government agencies. Read more

On TVNZ Breakfast, John Campbell talks to our Chief Economist Eric Crampton and Southern Cross Campus Principal Robin Staples about our new report presenting a groundbreaking new tool for measuring school performance objectively and fairly. In Insights and Excellence: School success in New Zealand, we present three case studies showing how three secondary schools, including Southern Cross Campus, performed before and after our tool separated the contribution of family background from the contribution of each school. Read more

Nationalist parties hold more than 10 percent of the vote in 14 countries in Europe. The German state of Thuringia is currently embroiled in a political crisis after the centre-right Christian Democrats broke a long-held understanding to join forces with the right-wing Alternative for Germany Party. Read more

Eric Crampton discusses the importance of free speech following SkyCity's cancellation of Peter Singer's speaking event in June, following reaction from the media and public. 

 

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Eric Crampton talks to Magic Talk’s Stephen McIvor about why congestion charging could be the answer to traffic woes. Read more

Wellington City Council has officially thrown its weight behind enabling a congestion charge for inner-city motorists. In our recent report Pricing Out Congestion, we make the case for congestion pricing and show that Wellingtonians spent almost five days in stationary traffic in 2018. Read more

With a number of Kiwis up for Oscars at this years Academy Awards, thanks to Taika Waititi's film Jojo Rabbit, Eric Crampton speaks to Breakfast about the millions of dollars of subsidies being offered to attract foreign films to be shot in New Zealand and discusses if this is a fair and sensible use of taxpayers money.

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