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
There were three things I was looking for in this week's pandemic budget announcement. I was not disappointed. Read more
Eric Crampton joins Radio New Zealand's The Panel to talk about the coronavirus economic package released by the government to help mitigate the impact of border restrictions. Read more
We might look abroad to see how a similar rule to that proposed by Simon Bridges to slash regulations has panned out, and not in completely mad places either – or at least not in the world’s more obvious madhouses. In 2001, the Liberal Party of British Columbia, Canada, was elected into office on the promise of regulatory reform. Read more
If your school has strong NCEA results, is it because it’s performing well, or because it serves a lot of children from more privileged backgrounds? Schools with identical NCEA outcomes could have wildly different performance if one of them got there through extraordinary efforts to overcome the disadvantages that its students brought with them to class. Read more
Travel bans bought New Zealand a little time, nothing more. We hope the Government is using this time well to prepare for the more widespread Covid-19 outbreak that seems likely to arrive, sometime. Read more
There is no doubt that COVID-19 will impact global economies. The Project has asked some of the country’s smartest financial experts, including our Chief Economist Eric Crampton, for their advice on how people can keep their money safe. Read more
On TVNZ Breakfast, John Campbell talks to our Chief Economist Eric Crampton and Southern Cross Campus Principal Robin Staples about our new report presenting a groundbreaking new tool for measuring school performance objectively and fairly. In Insights and Excellence: School success in New Zealand, we present three case studies showing how three secondary schools, including Southern Cross Campus, performed before and after our tool separated the contribution of family background from the contribution of each school. Read more
Social norms can persist well past their use-by date because they can be so hard to change. Nobody wants to move first, lest they be considered the weirdo. Read more
The government has crossed a bright-line rule in its proposed changes to Kiwisaver. Its proposal to require default funds to divest of any fossil fuel stocks is incredibly unlikely to have any direct effect on greenhouse gas emissions. Read more
I skived off last Friday afternoon for the first day of the cricket test at the Basin Reserve. Relaxing on the grass there really is one of the good things. Read more
It took a little while after the Christchurch earthquakes to wrap our heads around that a lot of the city would never be as it was. We had to adjust to the new normal. Read more
The United Nations is correct to consider New Zealand's housing crisis as a substantial human rights issue. But while the UN is often excellent at seeing problems, it isn't so good at suggesting appropriate solutions. Read more
The government this week extended the COVID-19 (coronavirus) travel ban barring foreign nationals from arriving in New Zealand from mainland China and suggesting self-quarantine for Kiwis returning. The continued ban feels like the right decision for a highly contagious disease with mortality rates that appear to be around twenty times higher than the seasonal flu. Read more
In this week’s New Zealand Initiative podcast, chief editor Nathan Smith is joined by chief economist Eric Crampton who answers a handful of questions about why he chose to become an economist, what keeps him motivated and what titans of the field have inspired him over the years. If you would like to listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more
Eric Crampton discusses the importance of free speech following SkyCity's cancellation of Peter Singer's speaking event in June, following reaction from the media and public.
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