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 .
Submission: Transforming Recycling - Container Return Scheme (2022)
Submission: Wellington Council on the Draft Economic Wellbeing Strategy (2022)
Submission: Managing exotic afforestation incentives (2022)
Submission: The market study into residential building supplies preliminary issues paper (2022)
Submission: Issues raised at the consultation conference on the Commission's market study into the retail grocery sector draft report (2021)
Submission: Resource management enabling housing supply and other matters Amendment Bill (2021)
Submission: Covid-19 public health response Amendment Bill (no 2) (2021)
Research Note: Safer arrivals and the path to 2022 (2021)
Submission: The market study into the retail grocery sector draft report (2021)
Fording the rapids: Charting a course to fresher water (2021)
Submission: Proposals for a smokefree Aotearoa 2025 action plan (2021)
Submission: Inquiry into congestion pricing in Auckland (2021)
Policy Point: A risky place to do business (2021)
Roadmap for Recovery: Briefing to the Incoming Government (2020)
Submission: Smokefree environments and regulated products Act 1990: Proposals for regulations (2021)
Democracy in the Dark (2020)
Research Note: Safe Arrivals (2020)
Policy Point: Open for minds: export education and recovery (2020)
Submission: Smokefree environments and regulated products (vaping) Amendment Bill (2020)
Policy Point: Stay on Target (2020)
Research Note: Effective Treatment: Public policy prescription for a pandemic (2020)
Policy Point: Time to process (2020)
Scroll down to read the rest of Eric's work.
Phone: +64 4 499 0790
Trolley problems are fun thought experiments in the philosophy and economics classroom. A trolley is hurtling down the track and will run over 10 people, unless you pull the lever. Read more
Those of us whose families are far away across wide oceans found a bit of hope this week. Entering New Zealand will really be rather simple. Read more
Wellington (Tuesday, 19 October 2021) – Today, the Government took a significant step toward restoring housing affordability. The New Zealand Initiative enthusiastically welcomed the announcement, supported by Labour and National, of a broad upzoning across urban centres where housing is terribly unaffordable. Read more
In 1996, Reserve Bank Governor Don Brash highlighted the political importance of speed in the 1980s reform agenda. Drawing on an earlier speech by Sir Roger Douglas, he noted that “opponents’ fire is much less accurate if they have to shoot at a rapidly moving target.” Policy over the past two years have moved at similar pace, but rather less coherently, and in the middle of a global pandemic that also requires at least some minor attention from the ministries. Read more
It is not clear how the government’s Emissions Reduction Plan can reduce emissions. The government is proposing massive interventions in everything from energy to transport to manufacturing. Read more
Wellington (Tuesday, 12 October 2021) – The New Zealand Initiative is urging the Government to substantially reconsider a provision in the COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill (No. 2) that would allow it to commandeer private Covid testing facilities and equipment such as those of Rako Science. The egregious provision and its implications for New Zealand’s testing capability were the subject of the New Zealand Initiative’s submission on the Bill. Read more
In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Arthur Dent found the Council’s plans to bowl his house, to make way for a bypass, the day before its scheduled demolition. The plans had been publicly consulted, of course. Read more
The Initiative has followed Covid policy closely since early 2020. We have published several reports and briefing notes on Covid policy; that work has included discussion of Covid testing and policy related to it. Read more
There’s an old saying that makes the rounds now and again, with various attributions. “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” I wonder how this one is going to end for Rako Science. Read more
How can New Zealand improve its Covid response? Dr Eric Crampton joins Ben Craven to talk about his latest research note Safer Arrivals and the Path to 2022. Read more
It has been rather a long time coming. Yesterday, Prime Minister Ardern announced that summer will bring vaccination passport requirements. Read more
Until August 2021, New Zealand laudably maintained elimination. Elimination was fragile. Read more
They say you can’t fight City Hall. And pity the developer who tries. Read more
Wellington (Thursday, 30 September 2021) – The New Zealand Initiative has welcomed today’s announcement from Immigration Minister Hon Kris Faafoi that the government will provide a pathway to residency for migrants currently in New Zealand. In May, The New Zealand Initiative implored the government to rethink their hostile approach to skilled migrants and called for migrants to be given residence. Read more
Dr Anne Wyllie, a New Zealand-born researcher at Yale University, led the development of Yale’s SalivaDirect test authorised for use in the USA, and independently validated in Portugal, Mexico, Ireland and the Philippines. She joined the New Zealand Initiative’s Dr Oliver Hartwich and Dr Eric Crampton for a public Zoom webinar on New Zealand’s COVID-19 response, and how we can better manage the pandemic. Read more