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
2016 is closer to 1240 than you might think. In 1240, Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, established the first ever documented student loan system. Read more
Our Head of Research, Dr Eric Crampton, talks to Newstalk ZB about our latest report, Signal Loss: what we know about school performance. Read more
The train-wreck was utterly predictable but we should still look back to see how it happened, how bad it was, and how we can keep it from happening again. This week, The New Zealand Initiative released its decade-on retrospective look at the government’s interest-free student loan policy. Read more
A lot of people have done well out of the past decade of interest-free student loans. But that hardly means the policy is what is right for the country. Read more
Just over a decade ago, the government stopped charging interest on student loans. Before 2006, student loan debt drew interest after the borrower left school. Read more
Minister Simon Bridges has killed a few of my favourite things. By not granting tiny, low-risk iPredict an exemption from Anti Money Laundering regulations designed for the big banks, he helped to strangle it. Read more
In politics, the good enough is the best you can usually hope for. On most policy questions, the best is irrelevant. Read more
Tax policy is usually about picking your poison. Set company taxes too high relative to international norms and firms will want to set up abroad. Read more
It is not easy to say where to pin the blame. Is it media consumers who want more and more hot-takes on the terrors of inequality? Read more
I have a solution to inequality. It will take a long time, and I don’t think you’re going to like it. Read more
Our Head of Research, Dr Eric Crampton, talks to Andrew Patterson from NBR Radio about why we need more data about student achievement and why some of the current NCEA statistics tell us very little about how well particular schools are doing. CLICK HERE to listen to the audio. Read more
If you found out your local school had a 60% NCEA level three pass rate, would you know whether you should congratulate the principal or demand a sacking? Students come to school from different starting points. Read more
Nelson’s Medical Officer of Health wants a place at your table. Not in person, of course, but in spirit. Read more
Our Head of Research, Dr Eric Crampton, appeared on Radio New Zealand to talk about the housing crisis and what steps should be taken to relive pressure on the housing market. Read more
University of Otago Associate Professor Nick Wilson argued that Disney’s classic 101 Dalmations should carry an R rating. Why? Read more