In politics, you sign up to a struggle on behalf of those you claim to represent. You owe them everything you can manage to stitch together to achieve victory. If you want to be a grand failure, better to pick religion, philosophy or art. Not politics. So says Nicholas Gruen in this reposting of his 2008 article on Bob Hawke. Read More
Evidence-based policy may be the flavour of the moment, but how does it account for the intrinsic human needs for empathy, confidence, and context? Read More
Paul Krugman keeps reporting that economists ignored things that were kind of obvious. Well, that’s in hindsight. But everyone’s wise in hindsight. Read More
When policy problems are complex, we need to understand and learn from the front line. Nicholas Gruen explains ways to improve the early, middle and… Read More
Our culture is awash with abstraction, universalism and instrumentalism, and as such is desperately in need of balancing with precisely the kind of thing that the ethics of care can offer. Here are some introductory reflections. Read More
This is a transcript, albeit a bit rough, of a discussion between famed UK economist and Financial Times journalist Martin Wolf and Australian economist and public thinker Nicholas Gruen about what economic reform should have looked like. Read More
Democracy is not a product. It is, as Aristotle reminds us, a system in which everyone takes turn in governing and being governed. Read More
Many will get awarded on Australia Day for little more than doing their job. And the higher the job’s status, the higher the award. Read More
New ways of looking at our complex world can lead to policy hacks with clear and easily identifiable benefits. But do they stand apart from politically-driven reforms? Read More
Sortition would address the yawning deliberative deficit and weaken many of the pathways by which polarisation, cronyism and party influence occurs, says Nicholas Gruen. In a recent paper, James Fishkin identifies some potential shortcomings of citizens' chambers which justify his own preference for ad hoc, and temporary citizens' panels. He makes some good points. His central concerns are that a citizens' chamber might: have insufficient technical expertise be susceptible to corruption and not maintain the high quality of deliberation achieved in the best ad hoc citizens’ juries. These are legitimate concerns. But they have a 'theoretical' ring to me. Read More
An evaluator-general should lead a renewed focus on understanding the impact of government programs, independent of their delivery and insulated from the demand for appropriate 'messaging' in other parts of the system. It could lead the way beyond bureaucratic fads to a new professionalism, writes Nicholas Gruen. Read More
The APS Review has been considering what role evaluation of public programs will have in its findings. Australia’s leading evaluator-general proponent, Dr Nicholas Gruen, on the design and implementation issues that will need to be addressed. Read More
Dr Nicholas Gruen examines how we can attempt to forecast the likelihood of important changes in our economic trajectory. Read More
If higher interest rates now will lower the risk of financial instability later, how much will they lower it, what are the benefits of so doing, and what are the costs? Read More
Former Productivity Commission member Nicholas Gruen says the debate over giving citizens access to government super is getting the five-minute argument, and it's still too politically complicated to contemplate government entities competing in an open market. Read More
