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
Last week, Forestry Minister Shane Jones warned of impending restrictions on New Zealand’s international trade in logs. Even if you don’t really care much about forestry, the Government’s response here may signal what’s in store for the rest of the economy after lockdown. Read more
All going well, the Alert 4 lockdown will end in two weeks. But life will not return to normal. Read more
You'd think it would be easy to figure out just what is an essential service when there's need for pandemic lock-downs. Food services and health services obviously make the cut; movie theatres and concerts, not so much. Read more
Our chief editor Nathan Smith is joined by chief economist Dr Eric Crampton and senior fellow Dr Bryce Wilkinson. In this week’s podcast, they discuss whether the Government’s Covid-19 cost-benefit analysis and subsequent lockdown is economically sound. Read more
Read our submission, written by Eric Crampton, to the Associate Minister of Health and the Health Select Committee on the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill. The Initiative has, over the past several years, undertaken research into tobacco harm reduction policies. Read more
In any reasonable top-10 list of things the Parliament’s health experts should be working on, the pandemic takes every slot. So why is the Health Select Committee right now working on regulate vaping? Read more
Eric Crampton talks to Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB about restarting the economy after the Covid-19 lockdown. Read more
The New Zealand Government’s Covid-19 policy needs to directly boost capabilities in the health sector while providing the kind of appropriate economic support necessary when we’re all taking a lengthy staycation and some industries are put on ice. Uncertainty about the duration of this crisis makes deciding on the most suitable policy difficult. Read more
The pandemic-induced recession creates a strong case for the Government to support struggling workers with targeted assistance, rather than a Universal Basic Income (UBI), according to the new policy paper Stay on Target by The New Zealand Initiative. As the Government searches for fresh and innovative ideas to prepare for the worst economic effects of shutting down the country’s commerce over four weeks, it has tentatively proposed the introduction of a universal basic income scheme. Read more
Unless effective treatment for the novel coronavirus Covid-19 emerges quickly, the world faces not only misery but economic depression. New Zealand will be immune to neither. Read more
Asking the public for submissions on pending legislation while the country is in pandemic lockdown risks making a farce of democracy and unnecessarily distracting the Government, according to a new policy paper by the New Zealand Initiative. The business of government must go on, said the Initiative’s chief economist Dr Eric Crampton, but politicians can afford to put less urgent matters aside for the time being. Read more
Eric Crampton looked at potential economic policy responses to the Covid-19 pandemic in his regular Radio New Zealand Nights slot, Read more
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. Or at least that's what Hunter S. Read more
Fiscal responsibility matters. Being careful guardians of the public purse during good times provides flexibility for dealing with nightmare scenarios. Read more
In wartime, it’s often hard to know exactly what is going on. Good communication is critical but it’s hard for governments – or anyone else – to make good decisions in the absence of information. Read more