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:
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
Read our submission to the New Zealand Productivity Commission on their Local Government Funding and Financing Issues Paper (November 2018). Read more
Taxpayer guarantees for bank deposits are a can of worms. There should be a strong presumption against them. Read more
KiwiBuild – the government programme to build or deliver 100,000 homes in 10 years – serves no useful public interest purpose and promises to endlessly distract and embarrass the government. That is the signal conclusion of KiwiBuild: Twyford’s Tar Baby, a research note released this week by The New Zealand Initiative. The programme does not directly help those on low incomes; only the relatively well-off can afford KiwiBuild homes. To subsidise such people would be unfair. Read more
Read The New Zealand Initiative's submission to the Independent Expert Advisory Panel on Phase 2 of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act Review. Read more
KiwiBuild – the government programme to deliver 100,000 down-sized homes in 10 years – is a waste of time and money. Read more
Bryce Wilkinson discusses on TVNZ Breakfast his new report on KiwiBuild – the government programme to deliver 100,000 down-sized homes in 10 years. He explains why this policy is a waste of time and money and why it is not going to achieve worthwhile objectives. Read more
About the authorDr Bryce Wilkinson is a Senior Fellow with The New Zealand Initiative and Director of Capital Economics Limited. Read more
Bryce Wilkinson discusses with Karyn Hay on Radio New Zealand the findings in his new report on KiwiBuild. He explains why the policy fails against all the objectives set for it. The report is available here. Read more
We have to take the flower by the thorns and cut the animalism out of our everyday language. That is the message this week from PETA, or the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Good on them. More ethical treatment of millions of humans in totalitarian countries would be a good thing, too. So when you want to motivate your colleagues to real action, PETA does not want you to talk about taking the bull by the horns. Read more
New Zealand’s screening regime for foreign investment in sensitive land conjures images of a madman waving a big stick in a public place. He is as likely to hit his own head as anyone else’s, but it is bad either way. It piles absurdity on absurdity. First on my list of self-inflicted harms is the economic madness of the Overseas Investment Act’s refusal (section 17(2)) to recognise that the primary benefit to New Zealand from selling land to a foreigner... Read more
A very long time ago, as long ago as last Friday, Yvette, 5, and Rupert, 6, committed their grandparents to 100 years of thinking time. Read more
Global debt is now higher relative to global income than in 2009 according to the latest International Monetary Fund statistics. This is despite the imposition of much more stringent financial regulation since the 2008 financial crisis. How worried should we be? Read more
Read The New Zealand Initiative's submission to the Environment Committee on the Crown Minerals (Petroleum) Amendment Bill. Read more
There are many things only the government can do. When it fails to excel, no one else can step in. We are all worse off. Read more
Our new report Fit for Purpose? Are Kiwis getting the government they pay for? looks into whether taxpayers are getting value for the tax dollars spent. It also compares productivity to how much money the government spends on core sectors such as education and health. Wallace Chapman interviews author Bryce Wilkinson about these and other findings in his report. Read more