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
Chief Economist Dr Eric Crampton discusses the immigration reset on Radio New Zealand - The Panel hosted by Wallace Chapman.
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Potential skilled migrants deserve a few warnings about what they are getting into in moving to New Zealand – the kinds of disclosures that are often mandatory in the private sector to ensure consumers can make informed decisions The Fair Trading Act’s provisions against deceptive and misleading conduct do not seem to apply to Immigration New Zealand. Caveat emptor. Read more
The third column in our Insights newsletter is meant to be lighter. Something a bit wry or humorous – an amuse-bouche to close out the week. Read more
In our latest podcast, Eric Crampton sits down with Graeme Jarvis, CEO of Medicines NZ for an in-depth chat about IP issues around the Covid-19 vaccines and how bottlenecking supply is keeping us from getting the world vaccinated.
Listen to the full podcast below (28 minutes):
The New Zealand Initiative · Eric Crampton and Graeme Jarvis discuss Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing and distribution Read more
Vaccine access campaigners get one very big and very important thing very right. If only the richer part of the world can afford Covid vaccinations, the costs will not be borne only by people in poorer countries suffering from ongoing waves of illness and misery. Read more
On Radio NZ Nights Eric Crampton asks if waiving vaccine patents will improve worldwide access to a covid vaccine in reality, or are the bottlenecks found elsewhere in the system?
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In a recent column for Newsroom (4 May 2021), Oliver Hartwich wrote about Europe, and whether its recovery will be worse than the recession. He wrote that the Covid-19 pandemic has not caused an ordinary recession - at least not in Europe. Read more
What if the real problem with local government is not that there are too many of them, but rather too few? Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta in April announced an independent review of local government. Read more
New Zealand was not caught entirely flat-footed last January when Covid first began making itself known. But we were several steps behind Taiwan, whose Central Epidemic Command Centre was alert to the risk very early. Read more
Governments have a hard time planning for longer term risks. Unless a specific risk, like climate change, draws voters’ attention, it is more likely to be ignored. Read more
Chief economist Dr Eric Crampton spoke on Newstalk ZB about the Government signing a memorandum of understanding with Amazon for a 25% subsidy on its Lord of the Rings TV series. He says film subsidy regimes are wasteful competition as countries scramble to attract film producers. Read more
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
Bubbles are beautiful but fragile things. Not letting the new one break matters. 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