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
Eric Crampton talks to Bryan Crump on Radio NZ Nights about the history of Libertarian attitudes towards vaccination.
Read more
Two years ago, Paul Romer warned the incoming President of the World Bank that the Bank should outsource its research function because “diplomacy and science cannot both thrive under the same roof.” The Bank depends on good relations with member countries. Romer had been World Bank Chief Economist from 2015 through his early 2018 departure, winning the Nobel Prize in Economics later in 2018. Read more
Dr Eric Crampton speaks to Medicines New Zealand CEO Graeme Jarvis about therapeutic medicines that ca treat Covid-19, and when we might expect them to become available in New Zealand. To listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more
Nobody knows what vaccination rate would allow restrictions to ease safely. But rates need to rise substantially. Read more
If lockdown had a bright side, it was having more time with the kids. Only needing to be online for school by 9, rather than rushing out the door at 7.30, meant bedtimes could be a bit later. Read more
Chittenden is the third most vaccinated county in America’s most vaccinated state: Vermont. As of late last week, 87.3% of Chittenden residents over the age of twelve had been vaccinated –close to New Zealand’s unofficial 90% target. Read more
Politics is hard when every available option is terrible. Get ready for a year of awful choices. Read more
As Auckland struggles, hopefully successfully, to bring the current Delta outbreak under control, let us imagine a future variant – the Iota variant. This hypothetical variant is identical to Delta, except for one detail. Read more
Eric Crampton talks to Wallace Chapman on Radio NZ - The Panel about a Universal Basic Income for young people to help them get started in life.
Read more
Freshwater politics is a nightmare. Long-term improvements in water quality depend on the development of systems that can withstand government and policy changes. Read more
As the anniversary of the first Covid lockdown approached, the Ministry of Health had some time on its hands. It had issued a new consultation paper and was looking for feedback. Read more
This submission in response to the Commerce Commission’s (Commission) Market study into the retail grocery sector draft report, is made by The New Zealand Initiative (the Initiative), a think tank supported primarily by major New Zealand businesses. In combination, our members employ more than 150,000 people. Read more
Providing future generations with rivers and aquifers at least as clean as our generation found them requires durable freshwater management systems that can stand the test of time. Regulatory measures can improve outcomes for now. Read more
An independent review of the Overseer farm management tool concluded that the software package is far from ideal for Council water quality management. Providing a relatively coarse view of nutrient loss from farms, Overseer can help farms in improving on-farm practice. Read more
Wellington (Monday, 23August 2021): Improving water quality requires more than short-term fixes, concludes a new report released today by the New Zealand Initiative. Any Government committed to improving New Zealand’s freshwater quality must build the institutions that can deliver it while withstanding changes in Government. Read more