Eric is the Chief Economist at The New Zealand Initiative. With the Initiative, he has worked in policy areas ranging from freshwater management to policy for earthquake preparedness, and from local government to technology policy. He has recently focused on policy related to Covid-19 response. He served as Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Economics at the Department of Economics & Finance at the University of Canterbury from 2003 through 2014.
Eric’s columns and commentary appear regularly in New Zealand’s major media outlets, as well as on his blog, Offsetting Behaviour. He can also be found on Twitter at @ericcrampton .
Submission: Transforming Recycling - Container Return Scheme (2022)
Submission: Wellington Council on the Draft Economic Wellbeing Strategy (2022)
Submission: Managing exotic afforestation incentives (2022)
Submission: The market study into residential building supplies preliminary issues paper (2022)
Submission: Issues raised at the consultation conference on the Commission's market study into the retail grocery sector draft report (2021)
Submission: Resource management enabling housing supply and other matters Amendment Bill (2021)
Submission: Covid-19 public health response Amendment Bill (no 2) (2021)
Research Note: Safer arrivals and the path to 2022 (2021)
Submission: The market study into the retail grocery sector draft report (2021)
Fording the rapids: Charting a course to fresher water (2021)
Submission: Proposals for a smokefree Aotearoa 2025 action plan (2021)
Submission: Inquiry into congestion pricing in Auckland (2021)
Policy Point: A risky place to do business (2021)
Roadmap for Recovery: Briefing to the Incoming Government (2020)
Submission: Smokefree environments and regulated products Act 1990: Proposals for regulations (2021)
Democracy in the Dark (2020)
Research Note: Safe Arrivals (2020)
Policy Point: Open for minds: export education and recovery (2020)
Submission: Smokefree environments and regulated products (vaping) Amendment Bill (2020)
Policy Point: Stay on Target (2020)
Research Note: Effective Treatment: Public policy prescription for a pandemic (2020)
Policy Point: Time to process (2020)
Scroll down to read the rest of Eric's work.
Phone: +64 4 499 0790
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
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
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
Eric Crampton talks to Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB about restarting the economy after the Covid-19 lockdown. 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
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
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
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
There were three things I was looking for in this week's pandemic budget announcement. I was not disappointed. 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