iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Eric Crampton

Newsroom NZ @newsroom.co.nz · 29/09/2026

The debt write-down offers its largest financial benefits to graduates with bigger balances and higher incomes, writes Dr Eric Crampton.

newsroom.co.nz

Labour’s student loan plan not as progressive as you’d think

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

You might be interested in Tom Palmer's activism though. He's with Atlas I think as a VP. He spends a lot of his time fundraising for Ukraine's defence, particularly (but I think not only) with Wild Hornets - who are superb.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I attended one of their one-day things when I was in the city it was in for other reasons about a decade ago. It would have been excellent for those new to oped writing, needing help in figuring out how to place opeds, bits on donor relations. Not really stuff relevant for our shop though.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I suppose it depends what you mean by activist. They don't do their own policy advocacy. They're a loose network of think-tanks that are broadly aligned around classical liberal ideas. They try to help those partners and are very good at helping new think tanks get started.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Most is a relative term. I wish they were more successful!

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The Commerce Act doesn't include break-up as penalty for anything relevant to retail grocery. I tried to imagine the path that could lead to that kind of power in more standard approaches to competition policy. It's at best a stretch. I hate election years. www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3610...

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

All of these are fine arguments for having a tight cap in an Emissions Trading Scheme.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

And MPS isn't an activist organisation at all. It's an association of scholars and think-tankers in the classical liberal tradition: people, not organisation. Friends who get together at annual conferences to talk about their research and the state of the world. That's it.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I have no clue what either SPN or ALEC are. Atlas is a loose affiliation of think-tanks in the classical liberal tradition. I don't have the membership list, but outfits like AIER, Cato, Liberty Justice Centre have been the most effective opponents to the most illiberal parts of Trump's agenda.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Schrödinger's gas ban. Simultaneously has no effect because nobody would ever find gas, and critically important to avoid emissions from that gas.* * (which would be covered by the ETS anyway if found so would be fine).

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Solar is great! So is wind! Allow both, allow drilling, and remember that domestic emissions from drilling are in the ETS.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Trump overall does not have coherent policies but what coherence there is isn't 'neoliberal'. It is post-liberal. www.aei.org/commentary/w...

aei.org

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Did Project 2025 like immigration? Cato has been great in opposing Trump immigration policies. Libertarian and classical liberal think tanks will oppose the parts of Trump's agenda that are most objectionable to libertarian and classical liberals.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I wish that this kind of thing were as implausible as you assume.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

If Labour believed there was no oil & gas to find, why ban exploration?

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Cato and Liberty Justice Center are two obvious ones. Ilya Somin is George Mason Uni, Cato affiliated. Between Somin and Liberty Justice Centre, successful appeal of a pile of tariffs. libertyjusticecenter.org/cases/v-o-s-...

libertyjusticecenter.org

V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. Trump - Liberty Justice Center

The Liberty Justice Center challenged the Trump Administration’s authority to unilaterally issue the “Liberation Day” tariffs, which are devastating small businesses across the country, and won!

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

You could think of Heritage as a place that worked from what was the bedrock of the Republican Party, and tried to hold it to that bedrock. When the bedrock of the Republican Party shifted to something very different, Heritage eventually shifted too. I think it's a change for the worse for both.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

When I was a grad student in the late 1990s and 2000s, Heritage was a conservative think tank but with economically liberal underpinnings. It has changed considerably since then.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The Oil & Gas ban will have contributed to the gas shortage, which I expect is hitting far more on viability of plants that need gas for heat than on cost-of-living directly. It was and is a bad policy. And unnecessary where domestic gas is covered by the ETS.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Some signed; others saw their business as far too subject to political risk and likely retaliation. Not that hard to explain.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

It's been fun watching in the US how folks who had been mad about 'neoliberalism' (MPS is more classical liberal FWIW) are having second thoughts, now that they see what post-liberalism is like. MPS folks doing superb work pushing back against Trump's illiberalism.

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Reposted by Eric Crampton

Michael Wiebe @michaelwiebe.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Vancouver has a housing shortage because it prioritized maintaining its single-family neighborhood character. blog.michaelwiebe.com/p/how-vancou...

blog.michaelwiebe.com

How Vancouver planned a housing shortage

The city put neighbourhood character first and housing supply second

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Labour's "Tax cut for landlords" framing was always stupid. But National attacking them now for a flip-flop, ignoring that it's a switch to taxing the capital gains on investment properties, seems silly. As do leftist attacks for allowing the deduction of a normal business expense with the switch.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

A defensible (but I'd argue against) case for disallowing interest deductions on residential property was that it might serve as a very rough, very second-best policy in the absence of a capital gains tax. So the switch from barring deductions to taxing gains is internally consistent & coherent.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Folks on all sides are being more meltybrained than usual around Hipkins' policy change on interest rate deductions for residential property businesses.

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Reposted by Eric Crampton

Newsroom NZ @newsroom.co.nz · 18/09/2026

Week in Review: Comment: A permanent resident’s reluctance to become a citizen does not necessarily mean a reluctance to become a “real” NZer, says Eric Crampton

newsroom.co.nz

Citizenship can cost more than a passport

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Reposted by Eric Crampton

Newsroom NZ @newsroom.co.nz · 14/09/2026

Comment: A permanent resident’s reluctance to become a citizen does not necessarily mean a reluctance to become a “real” NZer, says Eric Crampton

newsroom.co.nz

Citizenship can cost more than a passport

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

That was the convention I was thinking of. Currently protects in cases where the child wouldn't otherwise be eligible for NZ citizenship; would apply in this case too unless the legislation specifically overrode it.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I put *some* odds on NZ First wanting to maintain the existing protections against statelessness: that the "automatic" phrasing is meant to allow it if there are specific conditions. But for this kind of thing, sure would be great to make it clear.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Expanded on that in today's Post. www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3610...

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I don't know whether NZ First is ramping up its supporters with a policy promise that cannot reasonably be delivered as advertised, or whether they'd push ahead to legislate regardless of consequence. I hate election years. www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3610...

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Reposted by Eric Crampton

Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 12/09/2026

The US President's new proposal to tax international students has been approved by the White House for release this week. It's an unprecedented $100,000 tax on int'l grads who stay to work after graduation on Optional Practical Training (most grads do), a crucial bridge to remaining by any channel.

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Reposted by Eric Crampton

Liberalism.org @liberalism.org · 11/09/2026

Vincent Geloso uses America's lighthouses as a case study in how nationalizing industries acts as a redistributive engine for rent-seeking interests. www.liberalism.org/p/why-states...

liberalism.org

Why States Nationalize

Economists have many answers, but the truth may be larger than they know.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

The only Western country I could find quickly that does have a citizenship requirement for the pension is Denmark, and they waive it for non-citizens who have lived there for 10 years. NZ also has a residence requirement, so not that different.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Oh, relatedly. It seems that a lot of people think that NZ is out of step with Western-country norms by not having a citizenship requirement for NZ Super. If we added one, we'd be the weirdos. It's rare to condition it on citizenship. Just go look. Australia. Canada. UK. Sweden. Ireland....

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Reposted by Eric Crampton

Russell Brown @publicaddress.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

We now have a group of people with deranged, obsessive beliefs and a willingness for violence. Egged on by John Ansell, who is now encouraging "more and more people around the country" to do "exactly the same thing". www.thepost.co.nz/politics/361...

thepost.co.nz

Attendees form human barrier as agitators confront Ayesha Verrall during candidates meeting

Police had been alerted to potential security concerns before the meeting.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

That was the Twitter article. Winston-fans over there reminded me that people could 'just take up NZ citizenship'. Some of the countries with which NZ has SSAs forbid or make that very difficult. They'd have to give up overseas citizenship. And that can be much bigger than a passport-switch.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Terminating reciprocal agreements to enforce a citizens-only rule will likely have reciprocal effects. Maybe the policy shouldn't be taken literally. It will be taken seriously. NZ should be competing to get the world's best. Telling them that NZ hates foreigners isn't a great way of doing that.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

NZ could decide that with the treaties wiped, residence in an SSA country does not count for NZ Super here And a lot of people will be in a very bad spot. Or it could decide that those NZ citizens are eligible. And the government will have a substantial fiscal problem to deal with.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Some of them might decide to remain abroad, if they've built up enough savings that the pension there doesn't matter much. But a lot of them will come home. The ones most dependent on a government pension for their retirement.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Canada and Australia would be very likely to pull the rug from Kiwis living in those countries. And then Kiwis who've built their lives abroad almost certainly also get hit.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Treasury shows that the foreign-born proportionately contribute far more tax than the NZ born. They will have planned their retirement savings based on expectations that while NZ Super might change a bit at the edges, there won't be a rugpull. Winston pulls the rug.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Pretend that you hate foreigners, and especially Canadians, so much that you're happy to wipe out their superannuation eligibility. They may have spent their entire working life here, paying taxes, contributing.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

The SSAs for Canada and Australia contain savings provisions. They continue to protect people already receiving benefits as well as those who'd lodged qualifying claims before termination. NZ First also didn't put an asterisk on its promise around this part of the agreements.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

NZ First's announcement did not have an asterisk for citizens of countries with which NZ has an SSA. So the treaties would need to be renegotiated or terminated, or legislation could just override the provisions.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

If NZ First goes ahead with its proposed policy, Australians and Canadians living in NZ as residents and permanent residents would no longer be eligible for NZ Super. This would be inconsistent with the equal-treatment provisions of the SSAs.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

NZ has Social Security Agreements with Australia, Canada, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, South Korea, and the UK. Somewhere between 700,000 and a million NZ Citizens live abroad, mainly in Australia.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Someone born in 1976 would need to be ordinarily resident in NZ (or a country with an SSA agreement) for 19 years, including 5 years from the age of 50. You're not allowed to include time from multiple SSA countries - it has to be from a single one.

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Eric Crampton @ericcrampton.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Imagine a Kiwi who spends half their life in Canada. NZ has a Social Security Agreement with Canada: the Social Welfare (Reciprocity with Canada) Order 1996. Time in either NZ or Canada counts toward their eligibility for NZ Super or Canada's government pension - because of the agreement.

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