Bryce is a Senior Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative, and also the Director of the Wellington-based economic consultancy firm Capital Economics. Prior to setting this up in 1997 he was a Director of, 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.
Bryce is available for comment on fiscal issues, our poverty, inequality and welfare research. He also has a strong background in public policy analysis including monetary policy, capital markets research and microeconomic advisory work.
Bryce was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2025 New Year's honours for his significant contributions to public policy formation and economic research, spanning his influential work at Treasury during New Zealand's major economic reforms and his extensive research on fiscal discipline and regulatory quality.
Phone: +64 4 499 0790
The world premiere of a new film on New Zealand’s post 1984 economic reforms will screen in the Academy Cinema (below the Auckland Public Library) on Thursday 25 August at 6pm. This film was made by Americans for an international audience. Read more
Stephen Jennings’s recent speech to a New Zealand Initiative audience (NBR, July 22) was a wake-up call to Kiwis. It had discordant and harmonious notes. Read more
Do you feel like hissing at the people at the front of the plane when you walk past them to the cheaper seats at the back? If you are in the first class seats, do you cringe as people walk past you? Read more
If you are above 40, I hope you would have built some financial net worth through hard work and thrift. And if you are under 40, I hope that at least you aspire to build up some savings for a more comfortable retirement. Read more
Appeared alongside Sue Bradford, Auckland Action against poverty. Read more
The New Zealand Treasury has a vision. It is to be “a world-class Treasury working for higher living standards for New Zealanders”. Read more
Eminent UK economist and Financial Times columnist John Kay reportedly believes that the global financial system is broken and that there is a simple remedy. It is broken because bankers have lost the plot. Read more
Poorly Understood recognises that poverty is a complex and multi-faceted issue. It presents an overview of poverty-related issues: its definitions; its measures; its causes; and its history. Read more
Politics, not finance, is the prime factor stopping local authorities from being more pro-growth and pro-housing. That is a primary conclusion of a report, Local Government: Myths, Facts and Challenges, that The New Zealand Initiative released this week. Read more
Senior Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative, Dr Bryce Wilkinson discusses bamboo scaffolding in Hong Kong, noting some interesting points about risk and wages. Read more
Child abuse is a shameful thing. It occurs to a disquieting degree. Read more
Should the owner of Lochinver Station, the Stevenson Group, have the right to sell it to the Crown at the Shanghai Pengxin bid price of $88 million? In that case, the Crown could (and should) immediately sell the station to the highest bid from a New Zealander. Read more
In March this year, the Prime Minister spoke at our members' retreat in Auckland. Members took the opportunity to express concerns about specific regulatory imposts for which there seemed to be inadequate justification. Read more
Dr Bryce Wilkinson on Radio NZ: Blocked sale of station may worry other investors Read more
Question: Do the likely benefits from the Health & Safety Reform Bill (or any other Bill) exceed the costs? Answer 1: They do if you hire the right economist Answer 2: They do if you assume the benefits are large enough to exceed the costs Public policy decisions have to be made on some basis. Read more