Oliver is the Executive Director of The New Zealand Initiative. Before joining the Initiative, he was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, the Chief Economist at Policy Exchange in London, and an advisor in the UK House of Lords. Oliver holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Business administration and a PhD in Law from Bochum University in Germany.
Oliver is available to comment on all of the Initiative’s research areas.
Submission: A New Zealand Income Insurance Scheme (2022)
Policy Essay: Effective and affordable – Why the ETS is sufficient to deal with the climate emergency (2020)
Research Note: The Unreserved Bank of New Zealand: Why unorthodox monetary policy needs boundaries (2019)
#localismNZ: Bringing power to the people (2019)
Submission: Future of Tax (2018)
Submission: Overseas Investment Amendment Bill (2018)
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Phone: +64 4 499 0790
Our Executive Director, Dr Oliver Hartwich, joins Paul Henry to discuss the Government's announced Housing Policy Statement. Read more
Auckland’s housing crisis produces some strange side effects. One of them is that the word ‘boarding school’ might acquire a new meaning. Read more
If there is one art Prime Minister John Key’s New Zealand government has mastered, it is expectation management. So for its eighth budget, delivered yesterday, expectations were low. Read more
It is a journalistic sin to come up with headlines such as “Small earthquake in Chile, not many dead”. With that in mind, you have to pity journalists trying to write about yesterday’s budget. Read more
In 1965, South Korea and Kenya had more in common than they have today. In summary, both countries were poor. Read more
Stereotypes are long-lasting. Think of Africa and images of poverty, hunger and violence come to mind. Read more
History offers great value in learning. But sometimes its lessons are too difficult to understand and apply – even for those who have written the history books. Read more
History offers great value in learning. But sometimes its lessons are too difficult to understand and apply – even for those who have written the history books. Read more
Nothing is worse than politicians running out of ideas. Or to say it in the famous words of Abraham Maslow, “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” In the case of politicians, the hammer is the power to tax and the nails are all the problems that are coming their way. Read more
In his book The Ascent of Money, Harvard economic historian Niall Ferguson introduced us to what he called “the perennial truths of financial history”. They were: “Sooner or later every bubble bursts. Read more
Our Executive Director, Dr Oliver Hartwich, talks to Guyon Espiner on Radio New Zealand about whether or not proposed taxes on sugar would be effective. Read more
Our Executive Director, Dr Oliver Hartwich, joins Larry Williams on Newstalk ZB to discuss our latest publication, The Health of the State. Read more
There are a few things that New Zealand and Panama have in common. Both are home to about four million people. Read more
Our Executive Director, Dr Oliver Hartwich, talked to Paul Henry about the tax announcements ahead of Budget 2016. Read more
As the UK is heading for its referendum on EU membership, one might assume Prime Minister David Cameron’s entire focus would be on this once-in-a-generation vote. What could be more important than finally settling Britain’s uneasy relationship with Europe? Read more