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 Jesse Mulligan on Radio NZ about the next steps for New Zealand in a Covid-19 world. Read more
Emissions pricing and congestion pricing have a lot in common. The economics of both are straightforward. Read more
Read our submission to the Ministry of Health on the Proposals for a Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan. The Initiative has, over the past several years, undertaken research into tobacco harm reduction policies because of our concern for the inequities caused by the existing tobacco control regime. Read more
Dr Eric Crampton chatted to Professor Josh Gans from the University of Toronto on the global Covid-19 pandemic response. They discuss the importance of coming up with effective strategies to get the covid-19 vaccinations rolled out as quickly as possible and move onto the next conversation of how to reopen borders. Read more
The biggest risk to New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme isn’t technical issues in how the scheme is run or in its accounting. The biggest risk instead is politics. Read more
Chief Economist Dr Eric Crampton discusses the Government's 2021 budget. 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
As economics Nobel laureate Paul Krugman once put it, “Productivity isn’t everything, but, in the long run, it is almost everything.” Which makes you wonder what Krugman would think of yesterday’s Budget. Hidden behind headlines of benefit increases, spending initiatives and a new unemployment insurance scheme lies a worrying small detail. Read more
Here is our submission to the Transport and Infrastructure Committee on the inquiry into congestion pricing in Auckland. We broadly support the analysis and recommendations provided in the “The Congestion Question: Main Findings” (the Report). Read more
The Government is turning its attention from low-skilled migrant workers and focusing more on 'high roller investors', with hundreds expected to arrive as a result of the new border exemptions. But the Government has sent a message saying industries that rely on low-skilled will need to change their ways. Read more
Chief Economist Dr Eric Crampton discusses the immigration reset on Radio New Zealand - The Panel hosted by Wallace Chapman.
Read more
Potential skilled migrants deserve a few warnings about what they are getting into in moving to New Zealand – the kinds of disclosures that are often mandatory in the private sector to ensure consumers can make informed decisions The Fair Trading Act’s provisions against deceptive and misleading conduct do not seem to apply to Immigration New Zealand. Caveat emptor. Read more
The third column in our Insights newsletter is meant to be lighter. Something a bit wry or humorous – an amuse-bouche to close out the week. Read more
In our latest podcast, Eric Crampton sits down with Graeme Jarvis, CEO of Medicines NZ for an in-depth chat about IP issues around the Covid-19 vaccines and how bottlenecking supply is keeping us from getting the world vaccinated.
Listen to the full podcast below (28 minutes):
The New Zealand Initiative · Eric Crampton and Graeme Jarvis discuss Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing and distribution Read more
Vaccine access campaigners get one very big and very important thing very right. If only the richer part of the world can afford Covid vaccinations, the costs will not be borne only by people in poorer countries suffering from ongoing waves of illness and misery. Read more
On Radio NZ Nights Eric Crampton asks if waiving vaccine patents will improve worldwide access to a covid vaccine in reality, or are the bottlenecks found elsewhere in the system?
Read more