Eric Crampton is Chief Economist with the New Zealand Initiative.
He applies an economist’s lens to a broad range of policy areas, from devolution and housing policy to student loans and environmental policy. He served on Minister Twyford’s Urban Land Markets Research Group and on Minister Bishop’s Housing Economic Advisory Group.
Most recently, he has been looking at devolution to First Nations in Canada.
He is a regular columnist with Stuff and with Newsroom; his economic and policy commentary appears across most media outlets. He can also be found on Twitter at @ericcrampton.
Phone: +64 4 499 0790
If you’d thought that sorting Wellington’s transport issues was at the heart of the latest efforts to solve Wellington’s transport issues, well, you don’t know Wellington. For the past five years, Let’s Get Wellington Moving has been consulting with over ten thousand people and 75 stakeholder groups. Read more
New Zealand is not among the world’s most geologically stable places. The Christchurch earthquake was just over a decade ago. Read more
In this week's Initiative podcast, and ahead of the trans Tasman bubble opening up on 19 April 2021, Chief Economist Dr Eric Crampton discusses the safety measures that should already be in place to make this a success and, hopefully, put New Zealand on track to open up bubbles with other low-risk countries.
The New Zealand Initiative · PODCAST: Dr Eric Crampton discusses safety measures around the opening of the Trans Tasman bubble Read more
Bubbles are beautiful but fragile things. Not letting the new one break matters. Read more
Three roads bounded the farm where I grew up in Southern Manitoba. To the East was the highway. Read more
Local government is fundamentally broken because of the way councils are financed, how the costs and benefits of urban growth are divvied up, and the incentives thus created. Councils bear the costs of growth. Read more
One year ago, in a desperate rush, the government launched the wage subsidy scheme. It had to be done in a hurry; every other option was worse. Read more
On Tuesday morning, 23 March 2021, the Government announced a set of housing policies that, among other things would substantially change the tax treatment of interest payments on residential investment properties. The changes to tax policy are substantial. Read more
Oliver Hartwich, Eric Crampton, Bryce Wilkinson and David Law discuss the Government's new housing package.
The New Zealand Initiative · The Government's Housing Package Read more
The recipe for creating conflict over scarce and congestible resources is really rather simple. Start with beautiful natural spaces that attract visitors. Read more
In the classic Simpsons’ episode “The Old Man and the Lisa”, young environmentalist Lisa Simpson finally convinced the rather evil Mr Burns of the merits of recycling. Of course, it did not go well. Read more
It’s a good thing I don’t vape. If I did, I’d be depressed about the Ministry of Health’s proposed vaping regulations. Read more
Read our submission, written by Dr Eric Crampton to The Ministry of Health. This submission is in response to the public consultation document, Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990: Proposals for regulation. Read more
Amid all of the discussions of the Climate Commission’s draft report on New Zealand’s climate change response, it is too easy to lose track of the target. The goal isn’t to reach specific electric vehicle targets, though we would expect more people to shift away from petrol as petrol costs increase and as electric vehicles become more competitive. Read more
During the pilot episode of M*A*S*H, surgeon ‘Hawkeye’ Pierce wrote a letter home explaining the difference between surgery at a Korean War mobile surgical hospital, and the surgery back home. In normal surgery, you have time to get everything right. Read more