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
When asked whether they own their home or rent, some people with a mortgage like to joke that the bank really owns it. If you don’t make your mortgage instalment, the bank can, in the limit, take the house away. Read more
I know that people who aren’t economists manage to raise kids and that it all seems to work out in the end, but I’m not entirely sure how. I have learned that standard practice in the Crampton household diverges a bit from practice elsewhere. Read more
Eric Crampton comments on the new taxi service to rival Uber. Zoomy now has more than 80,000 app downloads and more than 2000 drivers, but can it become profitable? Read more
The two most exciting items in this year’s budget barely even made it into the budget tables. Both point toward better fiscal futures. Read more
Eric Crampton discusses Budget 2018 with Andrew Dickens. He says there are not many surprises, but he does find a few risks. Read more
The best thing about budgets in New Zealand is that they are just a little bit boring. Our fiscal conventions ensure big changes are telegraphed well in advance. Read more
There is a lot to be said for America’s federal structure. Fifty different states each trying different things not only lets policy better suit local preferences, but also helps researchers figure out the effects of different policies. Read more
Kludges are short-term fixes that can patch things over until the main problem can be addressed. If the latch for the rear hatch on your people-mover breaks, a kludge that ties it shut until you can get it to the garage for repairs is just the thing. Read more
On his regular Radio New Zealand Nights chat, Eric Crampton is taking a look at what we've learned from American Marijuana legalisation. Read more
Eric Crampton says anchor projects for the Christchurch rebuild were a terrible idea. He talks to Jim Mora on The Panel about that and the government's announcement about the Metro Sports Facility project in the city. Read more
The best thing about the National government was its focus on evaluation. Finance Minister English often reminded us a large portion of government spending was probably wasted. Read more
The International Monetary Fund has concluded its 2018 visit to New Zealand, checking with a broad range of stakeholders on how things are going here. Executive Director Oliver Hartwich and I were happy to share our views with them last week. Read more
On Tuesday, economist Eric Crampton argued that legislation to prohibit foreign property buyers will do nothing to alleviate the housing crisis. Today, he lays out all the other reasons why the ban makes no sense. Read more
There is not a shred of evidence the prohibition on foreign property buyers will alleviate the housing crisis. It is popu, argues economist Eric Crampton. Read more
The autumn storm that took out parts of Auckland’s power grid last week spared Wellington. The weather in the capital remained relatively calm – or at least no worse than any other wintry day. Read more