Eric Crampton is Chief Economist with the New Zealand Initiative.
He applies an economist’s lens to a broad range of policy areas, from devolution and housing policy to student loans and environmental policy. He served on Minister Twyford’s Urban Land Markets Research Group and on Minister Bishop’s Housing Economic Advisory Group.
Most recently, he has been looking at devolution to First Nations in Canada.
He is a regular columnist with Stuff and with Newsroom; his economic and policy commentary appears across most media outlets. He can also be found on Twitter at @ericcrampton.
Phone: +64 4 499 0790
Christchurch's SpicyBoys make hot sauce. They’ve branched out into a chilli gin to sell alongside the sauce. Read more
There was no real escape from the dystopia that Terry Gilliam depicted in his excellent film, Brazil. In the film’s world, nothing could be done without the correctly numbered bureaucratic form. Read more
1. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY 1.1 This submission on the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) Amendment Bill and the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Amendment Bill is made by The New Zealand Initiative (the Initiative), a Wellington-based think tank supported primarily by major New Zealand businesses. Read more
In this episode, Eric talks with Jillaine Heather, Chief Executive of the Free Speech Union, about the Government's plans for an under-16 social media ban and the universal age verification that may come with it. They examine why the Department of Internal Affairs appears to be building delivery machinery ahead of any legislation, what Australia and the UK reveal about compliance and scope creep, and why policy aimed at online harms could create serious risks for privacy and free speech. Read more
When Victoria University of Wellington’s great little prediction market, iPredict, announced that it would be shutting down back in 2015, it had a couple hundred thousand dollars of traders’ deposited funds in the bank. It was a very small, very limited, academic enterprise. Read more
It’s a pretty minor budget item all things considered. Thirty million dollars over four years, when the government plans on core government expenditure of over one hundred and fifty billion dollars in the 2026/2027 fiscal year, isn’t a huge sum. Read more
Government is awash in consultation processes. So much so that “consultation fatigue” is a real term. Read more
In this episode, Eric talks with Prof Chris Berg from RMIT University about the Australian regulatory ideas New Zealand has considered importing, from the news media bargaining regime to the under-16 social media ban and prescription-only vaping. They discuss how policies sold as protecting journalism, children or public health can instead create rent-seeking, surveillance, black markets and unworkable rules. Read more
If the country sees a few lucky breaks, Budget 2026 shows a return to surplus in 2029. The period of structural deficits will have lasted almost a decade. Read more
In this episode, Oliver talks with Eric about Budget 2026, which brings the forecast surplus forward a year but rests on a series of lucky breaks, from oil prices falling to fiscal discipline surviving the election and coalition negotiations. They weigh what is driving spending well above 2019 levels, the case for superannuation reform, council incentives to go for growth, the shrinking public service, and why Treasury's tobacco and alcohol excise forecasts keep going wrong. Read more
This is The New Zealand Initiative’s 2026 Prescription for Prosperity. Since 2017, the Initiative has prepared a briefing for the incoming government. Read more
In this episode, Eric talks with Dr Benno Blaschke and Chris Parker about why our current approach to housing supply, which is focused on housing targets and delivered through “predict and provide”, has consistently failed. The explore what a better system could look like by discussing Benno's proposed alternative, where an independent panel would use price-based indicators to evaluate council plans against the conditions of competitive urban land markets. Read more
The strongest protection tenants can have is plenty of other potential places to rent, from different landlords eager to rent them a home. When zoning rules make it very difficult to build new housing, existing landlords do not face much potential competition. Read more
Last year, Cabinet papers promised that New Zealand’s agricultural-product regulator would be required to use assessments from trusted overseas regulators. The Bills now before Parliament instead say the regulator must merely “have regard to” them. Read more
An alcohol licensing regime should have one big job: to ensure that licensed outlets operate responsibly, first by vetting applications and then by monitoring compliance. Its measures should be proportionate to the risks being addressed, and cost-effective. Read more