Bryce green web

Dr Bryce Wilkinson ONZM

Senior Fellow

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

Email: bryce.wilkinson@nzinitiative.org.nz

Recent Work

Man of war without guns

It is a new thing for New Zealand to have a chief science advisor to the Prime Minister. Sir Peter Gluckman’s laudable brief is "to promote discourse that will lead New Zealand to better apply evidence-based knowledge and research across all domains of public endeavour". Read more

Dr Bryce Wilkinson ONZM
Insights Newsletter
27 September, 2013

Caring about a living wage

The idea of a living wage is not new. New Zealand’s Arbitration Court determined in November 1936 that a basic weekly wage of £3.16s for an adult male would be sufficient to maintain a husband, wife, and three children in a fair and reasonable standard of comfort. Read more

Dr Bryce Wilkinson ONZM
Insights Newsletter
13 September, 2013

What is the RMA’s real purpose

The National-led government is introducing changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) and fears are being expressed that they will favour economic development ‘at the expense of the environment’. The Prime Minister implicitly acknowledged this fear last weekend when he referred to the need to strike the right ‘balance between our environmental responsibilities and our economic opportunities’. Read more

Dr Bryce Wilkinson ONZM
Insights Newletter
16 August, 2013

How RMA undermines rural property rights

On July 25, a Dominion Post article (Consent proposals upset rural residents) asserted that, under a proposed district plan, rural landowners might face new requirements if their property includes dominant dune ridge lines, outstanding landscapes, amenity landscapes or ecological and geological sites. Owners in possession of such land may now require a resource consent to work on farm fences, culverts and farm tracks. Read more

Dr Bryce Wilkinson ONZM
The National Business Review
16 August, 2013

More RMA stupidity

On 25 July, a Dominion Post article (Consent proposals upset rural residents) asserted that, under a proposed district plan, rural landowners might face new requirements if their property includes dominant dune ridge lines, outstanding landscapes, amenity landscapes or ecological and geological sites. Owners in possession of such land may now require a resource consent to work on farm fences, culverts and farm tracks. Read more

Dr Bryce Wilkinson ONZM
Insights Newletter
9 August, 2013

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