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.
Phone: +64 4 499 0790
Elections are the classic zero-sum game. In a zero-sum game, one person’s gains are necessarily another’s losses. Read more
The ban on the only cold medicine that seems to work never seemed likely to work. On Friday, some twelve and a half years after John Key banned it, David Seymour announced that the ACT Party would work to restore over-the-counter access to pseudoephedrine-based cold medicines. Read more
1.1 This submission in response to the Draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport is made by The New Zealand Initiative (the Initiative), a Wellington-based think tank supported primarily by major New Zealand businesses. In combination, our members employ more than 150,000 people. Read more
Transport funding has become an incoherent mess. In August, the Ministry of Transport released the Draft Government Policy Statement on land transport funding. Read more
In June, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand told us something surprising. It said it had never banned experts in monetary policy from serving as external members of the Monetary Policy Committee. Read more
Dr. Eric Crampton took part in the Free Speech Union Debate on whether we should tax the wealthy, initially moving to argue that the tax system is currently unfair for everyone. You can watch the entire debate here. Read more
Join Dr. Eric Crampton and Scott Wilson for a discussion about the recently released Government Policy Statement on land transport and a wider conversation about transport policy. You can also read Scott Wilson's recent blog post about what's wrong with New Zealand's land transport funding system here. Read more
Dr. Eric Crampton appeared on The Platform to talk with Sean Plunket about the National Party's tax plan. You can find a snippet of their conversation below. Read more
Dr. Eric Crampton appeared on RNZ's Morning Report to discuss National's recently announced tax plans and whether or not they are feasible.
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When land prices are wrong, it’s hard for anything to be right. When zoning makes it too hard to build in places where people want to live, land prices will be out of whack. Read more
When land prices are wrong, it’s hard for anything to be right. When zoning makes it too hard to build in places where people want to live, land prices will be out of whack. Read more
At the end of the Cold War, western governments substantially reduced military expenditure. US President Bush and UK Prime Minister Thatcher called it the “peace dividend.” It was not a “dividend” in any normal sense of the term. Read more
Dr. Eric Crampton appeared on The Platform to discuss the IMF's recent report.
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It has to be the silliest game of Cluedo going. Who caused the cost of living to blow out? Read more
I’m a fan of prizes for rewarding innovation. Prizes motivate. Read more