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:
Walking the path to the next global financial crisis (2021)
Illusions of History: How misunderstanding the past jeopardises our future (2021)
Policy Point: A risky place to do business (2021)
Policy Point: Is climate change a key risk to global financial stability? (2020)
Roadmap for Recovery: Briefing to the Incoming Government (2020)
Pharmac: The right prescription? (2020)
Research Note: Doing whatever it takes with someone else’s money (2020)
Policy Point: FDI: Unjustified Urgency (2020)
Research Note: Deficit spending in a crisis: why there is no such thing as a free lunch (2020)
Research Note: Quantifying the wellbeing costs of Covid-19 (2020)
Research Note: How bad might the lockdown be for jobs and income? (2020)
Work in Progress: Why Fair Pay Agreements would be bad for labour (2019)
Scroll down to read the rest of Bryce's work.
Phone: +64 4 472 5986
On Tuesday morning, 23 March 2021, the Government announced a set of housing policies that, among other things would substantially change the tax treatment of interest payments on residential investment properties. The changes to tax policy are substantial. Read more
Suppose you have an apple orchard. You hire labour to pick and pack your apples. Read more
Oliver Hartwich, Eric Crampton, Bryce Wilkinson and David Law discuss the Government's new housing package.
The New Zealand Initiative · The Government's Housing Package Read more
The Climate Change Response Act 2000, the Climate Change response (Zero carbon) Amendment Act and the Climate Change Commission’s draft advice have two things in common. First, their purported primary goal is to reduce global net greenhouse gas emissions. Read more
In Greek mythology, Hercules was tasked with slaying Hydra, a gigantic and deadly water snake. Hydra had multiple heads. Read more
The Government announced that the Resource Management act is going to be scrapped and replaced with three new laws. Bryce Wilkinson talks to Jesse Mulligan on Radio NZ about why the RMA was no longer fit for purpose and how the new laws can address the issues that are left in its wake. Read more
There are those who say that government can only give away the produce of the productive. There are those who say that government can spend up to national income, but not beyond. Read more
As Mark Twain once quipped: “Lack of money is the root of all evil.” And so entered the governor of the Reserve Bank of Transformable. “Suffer all those short of cash to come unto me,” quoth he. Read more
Imagine an optimistic and hard-working young couple hoping to raise a family in their own house. Thousands of them are flicking through property listings each weekend. Read more
In this Quick Take episode, Bryce Wilkinson questions the wisdom behind many of the Reserve Bank’s latest interventionist moves and worries New Zealand could be repeating mistakes of the past. If you would like to listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more
Thanks for tuning in to the New Zealand Initiative’s Freely Speaking podcast where the style is casual, the topics are important and the brakes are off. In this episode, around the table is executive director Oliver Hartwich, chief economist Eric Crampton, senior fellow Bryce Wilkinson and chief editor Nathan Smith. Read more
This episode of the Freely Speaking podcast features executive director Oliver Hartwich, chief economist Eric Crampton, senior economist Matt Burgess and senior fellow Bryce Wilkinson. The team unpicks the strange lack of deep conversation in New Zealand and why Kiwis seem so reluctant to talk about the big issues. Read more
In this episode of the New Zealand Initiative’s “Freely Speaking” podcast, around the table is executive director Oliver Hartwich, chief economist Eric Crampton, senior economist Matt Burgess and senior fellow Bryce Wilkinson. The team unpacks the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s curious steps into climate change politics and mulls over the central bank's real mandate. Read more
The resurgence of Covid-19 in Europe is ending hopes of a quick recovery from a-sharp “V-shaped” recession. Will it be a U-shaped recession, an L-shaped recession? Read more
At the end of October, governor of the Reserve Bank Adrian Orr boldly asserted in a speech that climate change is “a key risk to global financial stability.” He made the case for urgent “transformation” as an “important, imminent, and personal” issue. Although the Reserve Bank Act does not mention climate change, the RBNZ is responsible for financial stability. Read more