Bryce is a Senior Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative, and also the Director of the Wellington-based economic consultancy firm Capital Economics. Prior to setting this up in 1997 he was a Director of, and shareholder in, First NZ Capital. Before moving into investment banking in 1985, he worked in the New Zealand Treasury, reaching the position of Director. Bryce holds a PhD in economics from the University of Canterbury and was a Harkness Fellow at Harvard University. He is a Fellow of the Law and Economics Association of New Zealand.
Bryce is available for comment on fiscal issues, our poverty, inequality and welfare research. He also has a strong background in public policy analysis including monetary policy, capital markets research and microeconomic advisory work.
Latest reports:
Work in Progress: Why Fair Pay Agreements would be bad for labour (2019)
KiwiBuild: Twyford's Tar Baby (2019)
Fit for Purpose? Are Kiwis getting the government they pay for? (2018)
Recipe for disaster: Building policy on shaky ground (2018)
Welfare, Work and Wellbeing: From Benefits to Better Lives (2017)
The Inequality Paradox: Why inequality Matters Even Though it has Barely Changed (2016)
Poorly Understood: The State of Poverty in New Zealand (2016)
Reducing Unnecessary Regulatory Costs (2015)
A Matter of Balance: Regulating Safety (2015)
Investing for success: Social Impact Bonds and the future of public services (2015)
Phone: +64 4 472 5986
A giant is dead. Paul Volcker died this week, aged 92. At 6ft 7in, he was, according to the New York Times obituary, one inch too tall for military service. Read more
This submission is in response to the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment's (MBIE) Discussion Paper, Designing a Fair Pay Agreements System. Read more
Sometimes, being at the front of the queue isn't a good thing. Read more
To misquote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “Methinks today too many business leaders and politicians doth protest too much.” Read more
Taken at face value, the government’s zero-carbon bill is a toothless façade. On closer examination, it looks more like a Trojan Horse for dictatorial government by decree. Read more
Rabobank recently reported farmer confidence had plummeted in the September quarter. Some 41% of surveyed farmers expected the rural economy to worsen next year. Only 8% expected an improvement. That net negative response was 33%, far below a negative 2% in the June quarter. Read more
The apparently successful illegal occupation of private property in Auckland’s Ihumātao is potentially a serious setback for the rule of law, and thereby New Zealanders’ wellbeing. Also disturbing are the more immediate implications for Auckland housing and the Treaty of Waitangi claims process. Read more
In 1936, the father of Keynesian economics, John Maynard Keynes, used the term ‘animal spirits’ to refer to the fluctuating human emotions that can drive economic decisions in stressful times. Read more
What are budget advisers to make of the Reserve Bank governor’s call for increased public and private spending? Read more
This submission is in response to the second round of consultation on Phase 2 of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act review. Read more
These are strange times, even for economists. Fearmongers are urging governments to pump up their spending in order to maintain economic activity. Read more
Alan Duff’s latest book – A Conversation with My Country: Where we have come from. Where we can go. – takes a characteristically thoughtful and constructive look at the pockets of pathological behaviours our welfare state has nurtured for decades. Read more
Bryce Wilkinson talks to Peter Williams on Magic Talk about our report Work in Progress: Why Fair Pay Agreements would be bad for labour. He discusses the findings of the Fair Pay Agreements Working Group and explains why Fair Pay Agreements will not improve productivity. Read more
The government’s goal of a highly skilled and innovative workforce and an economy that delivers well-paid, decent jobs and broad-based gains from economic growth and productivity, is a laudable aim. Read more
We cannot vouch for the authenticity of the following conversation that mysteriously arrived in my Inbox. The sender’s name was Dante, surely a fake. Read more