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
This week brought furore over the thirteen thousand (or so) youths neither in education, employment or training. Employers complained of difficulty finding suitable candidates who can pass a drug test. Read more
There was a dirt road north of our old farm in Manitoba. Grass grew on the hump between the wheel tracks. Read more
Mayors want devolved power to deal with issues facing their communities. If that power comes with responsibility, and accountability, central government should take the request seriously. Read more
On a Valentine's Day themed show, Head of Research Dr Eric Crampton, discusses the economics of marriage and dating on Radio New Zealand's 'Nights' programme.
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National’s 2010 budget provided substantial tax cuts. But it also implemented an important tax switch at the same time. Read more
President Donald Trump's travel ban on the citizens of seven muslim-majority countries has dominated headlines around the globe over the past few weeks. Canadian-born economist, and Head of Research at The new Zealand Initiative Eric Crampton, Negar Partow - a senior lecturer at Massey University's Centre for Defence and Security Studies, and Paul Buchanan - a former intelligence analyst for the US government and regular commentator on international affairs join Wallace to discuss the likely international implications of the Trump presidency. Read more
Every American election brings howls of outrage from supporters of the losing side. It’s pretty common to hear about all the people who will move to Canada, or to New Zealand, because of how awful the winning candidate is. Read more
A sufficiently advanced incompetence in a president is indistinguishable from malice. Donald Trump has issued an Executive Order blocking legal American residents, who happen to have been born in a small set of Middle Eastern countries, from returning home. Read more
Peter Thiel is a world-leading tech investor and a fascinating thinker. Of course NZ was right to make him a citizen. Read more
Want to rail against the Global 1% rich-listers? Be a bit careful: if you own a house in Auckland, mortgage-free, you could easily be on that list. Read more
John MacDonald talks with Dr Eric Crampton, head of research at The New Zealand Initiative, on the growing gap between rich and poor in New Zealand. This is after it was revealed that New Zealand's two richest men have more money than 30% of the NZ population. Read more
Christmas is getting better. Maybe it’s because Kiwis are getting better at keeping New Year's resolutions. Read more
Now that Steven Joyce is to be given the Finance Minister reins, it is worth looking forward to what a Joycean finance ministry might bring. Joyce took a very active role in his administration at MBIE. Read more
New Zealand has had a pretty decent eight years under John Key. The rest of the world’s descent into madness accelerated sharply, and New Zealand’s has looked better by comparison. Read more
Like everyone else in Wellington, our family woke early that Monday morning to earthquakes. We had been through it before, in Christchurch, and I did not like it. Read more