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
If years of arguing about supermarkets and supermarket policy have taught us anything, it’s that allowing another supermarket chain to enter the New Zealand market is in the national interest. So why won’t the government tell the Overseas Investment Office? Read more
Oliver Hartwich and Eric Crampton discuss how the government is preventing overseas supermarkets from entering the New Zealand market. To listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more
Economists say rising unemployment is the new pain set to hurt New Zealand's economy on the back of unexpectedly high inflation figures. Data for the September quarter shows prices rose by 7.2 percent in the last year - down from 7.3 percent in June - but higher than the Reserve Bank had expected. Read more
Chief Economist at The New Zealand Initiative Dr Eric Crampton is in the studio to talk economics. Tonight Dr Crampton joins us to discuss inflation and central bank policy, the housing shortage and how we got here, and the Future for Local Government Forum's report which is due out at the end of the month. Read more
Collective nouns are fun. A murder of crows is great. Read more
Bryan Perry’s regular reports for the Ministry of Social Development represent some of the very best that New Zealand’s public sector has to offer. Statistics New Zealand runs the surveys on household income and household expenditure. Read more
The Crown Accounts are in better shape than had been expected when the Budget was set. That’s the good news. Read more
Voting for local government should be simple. If you think that council has generally done a good job, support most incumbent candidates. Read more
For years, New Zealand productivity has been shortchanging the economy and therefore the country. Why is New Zealand outstripped by the rest of the first world countries, in particular Australia? Read more
Economist Dave Heatley finds himself in something of a quandary. New Zealand’s economists firmly support the Emissions Trading Scheme as the best way of achieving New Zealand’s net zero target. Read more
In this episode Michael Johnston hosts Oliver Hartwich and Eric Crampton to discuss various European crises and how New Zealand should be learning from, and not repeating, the European mistakes. To listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more
Wellington (Wednesday, 28 September 2022) – New Zealand’s economists strongly support the Emissions Trading Scheme and strengthening it through a carbon dividend. The latest survey of members of the New Zealand Association of Economists finds extraordinarily strong agreement that: Tightening the ETS’s cap on emissions makes far more sense than measures like fuel economy standards on imported vehicles (53% strongly agree, 35% agree, 5% disagree); If additional market failures are present, policies should target those directly to reduce the cost of mitigating emissions (24% strongly agree, 57% agree, 2% strongly disagree); A carbon dividend to households beats measures like electric vehicle subsidies or targeted regulations for ensuring equity (45% strongly agree; 48% agree; 2% disagree). Read more
Chief Economist at The New Zealand Initiative Dr Eric Crampton is in the studio to talk economics. Tonight he's talking competition and antitrust laws. Read more
Hard times make for bad thinking. Inflation has been running at 7.3%, or at 7.8% if you remember how the petrol excise holiday works. Read more
As a bit of police theatre, it was outstanding. Police responded to a complaint about a home in Wanaka flying an allegedly racist red flag with an ominous black insignia inscribed within a white circle. Read more