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
NCEA completion rates have been increasing, with more children than ever earning an NCEA diploma, but New Zealand’s performance on international benchmarks in numeracy and literacy has been flat or declining. Co-author Eric Crampton discusses on Radio Ngati Porou our new report Score! Read more
To begin with, sugar taxes are offensive. They presume that some government official knows better than you about what food choices are best for you. Read more
New Zealand’s education system is designed not to measure performance. How can we tell whether policies intended to boost student performance are successful, or how much academic achievement matters for later life outcomes, if we cannot measure it? Read more
Policy analysis is like a lot of other project work. It can be good, it can be fast, and it can be cheap – but it cannot be all three. Read more
Parliament deserves better advice about the policies it is being asked to consider. Imagine that you and your partner agreed that you would buy a house together after the wedding – and you both had your eyes on a particular property. Read more
37 Documents released under the OIA reveal a Ministry of Health deeply skeptical about sugar taxes. The internal advice within the Ministry highlighted the same problems with sugar taxes as we mentioned in our 2016 report The Health of the State. Read more
Now is the time for all good Jedi to come to the aid of their country. In the classic Cold War film, Dr Strangelove reminded us that it is pointless for a country to have a doomsday device if it is kept secret. Read more
On 31 October 2017, the New Zealand Initiative requested the Ministry’s work on sugar taxes. In terms of the Official Information Act, I am requesting the following information about the Ministry of Health’s work on sugar taxes: All advice provided by the Ministry of Health to Minister of Health Jonathan Coleman regarding sugar taxes; All briefings and correspondence related to Professor John Gibson’s work on sugar taxes; All reviews and summaries of existing research about sugar taxes; Any meeting notes, PowerPoint slides, emails and correspondence regarding sugar taxes for any meeting of ELT. Read more
The housing supply shortage is worse than expected. That makes it even more important that government focuses on the key barriers to getting more houses built. Read more
Celine Dion's two Auckland shows have sold out, thanks to ticket scalpers. General release tickets went on sale midday Monday and sold out hours later, with tickets appearing on resale sites immediately at double the price. Read more
I love Perpetual Guardian's experiment with a four-day work-week, but that does not mean I think it will work. The great thing about flexible labour markets is that it does not matter whether I think it will work, whether you think it will work, or whether the labour regulators at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) think it will work. Read more
James Shaw’s State of the Planet speech called for a new economic model – sustainability economics – to meet environmental and equity challenges ahead. While his call comes from the left, it reminded me of earlier criticisms of mainstream economics from the right. Read more
It’s too easy to take things for granted. In Monty Python’s classic Life of Brian, John Cleese’s Reg asked what the hated Romans had ever done for the people of Judea – and was rather annoyed to hear a long list of things like medicine, sanitation, education, wine, irrigation and more. Read more
New research out of NZIER, and released under the Official Information Act, says the sugar tax won't work. The findings mirror what we concluded in our 2016 report, The Health of the State. Read more
On his regular Radio New Zealand Nights chat, Eric Crampton talks through the findings of his latest report Recipe for Disaster. Read more