Dr Eric Crampton talked to Wallace Chapman on RNZ's show The Panel about Treasury's initial decision to ban civil society groups like the New Zealand Initiative from the 2025 budget lockup. Dr Crampton explained how Treasury had reversed their decision following legal threats and media backlash, highlighting the importance of maintaining access for organisations that provide independent analysis of budget announcements. Read more

Dr Eric Crampton talked to Matt Heath and Tyler Adams on Newstalk ZB about the proposed social media ban for under sixteens in New Zealand. Dr Crampton discussed the mixed evidence on social media harms, the benefits for young people, and explained why implementing such a ban would inevitably create problematic trade-offs between ease of circumvention, adult user convenience, and online privacy. Read more

Dr Eric Crampton talked to Sean Plunket on The Platform about the proposed social media ban for under-16s in Australia and similar potential legislation in New Zealand. Dr Crampton discussed the practical challenges of implementing such bans, explaining the "trilemma" of any potential implementation system having at least one undesirable property: either being easy for kids to circumvent, burdensome for adult users, or ending internet privacy. Read more

Dr Eric Crampton spoke to Heather du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk ZB about New Zealand's structural deficit, citing IMF figures that show it as "about the worst in the OECD" compared to GDP. He identified government spending growth to "well north of 30% of GDP" as the main issue and suggested potential cuts to pension programmes, health spending, and student loan subsidies. Read more

Dr Eric Crampton spoke to RNZ about reforming New Zealand's emissions credit system, arguing that payouts should be tied to international competitors' emissions rather than penalising local companies for reducing their carbon footprint. Listen below. Read more

In this episode, Eric discusses credit card interchange fees with NERA's James Mellsop, who argues that the Commerce Commission's proposed regulation capping these fees could harm competition and innovation despite aiming to benefit consumers. They express concern that the Commission's narrow focus on allocative efficiency overlooks the dynamic benefits of interchange fees in financing innovation and new market entrants, potentially undermining the Commission's own goals of increasing competition in the banking sector. Read more