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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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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In a prior academic life, I taught public choice – the economic analysis of political decision-making. During the week of lessons on the economics of bureaucracy, the students went through the consequences of the bureaus holding an information advantage over their ministerial masters. Read more
It is about time Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway investigates one of the more egregious employment rorts out there. An employer – and not an obscure one – pays far less than the minimum wage. Read more
Eric Crampton talks to Magic Talk’s Stephen McIvor about why congestion charging could be the answer to traffic woes. Read more
Wellington City Council has officially thrown its weight behind enabling a congestion charge for inner-city motorists. In our recent report Pricing Out Congestion, we make the case for congestion pricing and show that Wellingtonians spent almost five days in stationary traffic in 2018. Read more
With a number of Kiwis up for Oscars at this years Academy Awards, thanks to Taika Waititi's film Jojo Rabbit, Eric Crampton speaks to Breakfast about the millions of dollars of subsidies being offered to attract foreign films to be shot in New Zealand and discusses if this is a fair and sensible use of taxpayers money.
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