Bryce is a Senior Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative and the Director of the Wellington-based economic consultancy firm Capital Economics.
Prior to setting up his consultancy in 1997, he was director, and shareholder in First NZ Capital. Before moving into investment banking in 1985, he worked in the New Zealand Treasury, reaching the position of Director.
Bryce holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Canterbury and was a Harkness Fellow at Harvard University. He is a Fellow of the Law and Economics Association of New Zealand.
Phone: +64 4 499 0790
Our new report Fit for Purpose? Are Kiwis getting the government they pay for? Read more
Read The New Zealand Initiative's submission to the Treasury on New Zealand’s Fiscal Policy Framework: Establishing an Independent Fiscal Institution. Read more
Read The New Zealand Initiative's submission to the Treasury on Embedding wellbeing in the Public Finance Act 1989. Read more
Governments spend money irresponsibly when they don’t care much whether the wellbeing outcomes for New Zealanders justify the amount being spent. This is happening on a grand scale. Read more
Yesterday, the government released the Tax Working Group’s interim report. As foreshadowed, the Group was coy about what it will recommend in December. Read more
New Zealand is a high-tax country compared to prosperous non-European countries but much of the money appears ill spent. One example of poor outcomes is government spending of about $130,000 to educate an average school pupil to age 15. Read more
The Tax Working Group's interim report released on Thursday rightly disposes of some unworthy proposals but confounds some others, particularly the capital gains issue. My list in the former category includes its position on tax and housing affordability, GST exemptions, and progressive company tax rates. Read more
This report looks at how good a job government is doing with all the tasks entrusted to it. The issue is important because government has come to command much of our resources. Read more
Bryce Wilkinson finds in his new report Fit for Purpose? Are Kiwis getting the government they pay for? Read more
Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson discusses on TVNZ Breakfast our new report Fit for Purpose? Are Kiwis getting the government they pay for? Read more
Read The New Zealand Initiative's submission to the Finance and Expenditure Committee on the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Monetary Policy) Amendment Bill. Read more
New Zealanders have come to rely a great deal on government. The proportion of national income taken by taxes more than quadrupled in the 20th century and the number of Parliamentary Acts increased 50-fold. Read more
My Insights article, Low Tax Fantasy, on 27 July rebutted the claims that New Zealand was a low-tax country by global standards and that tax is love. The article struck a chord with a number of readers, one of whom said it reminded her of one of Shakespeare’s sonnets about love. Read more
Two contradictory views about tax are common in New Zealand. One is outrage about tax avoidance; the other is denial that tax rates matter. Read more
This Sunday Bridget Williams Books is holding a panel discussion on the infantile proposition that tax is love. Really? Read more