About the author Nicholas Gruen is CEO of Lateral Economics. He's an economist, a consultant, a commentator and a former adviser to the federal government. Follow Nicholas Gruen
Premium Columnists Non-linearities, risk, policy and administration of our COVID management Tuesday July 21, 2020 By Nicholas Gruen Editors' Picks The PM is again dichotomising the economy and health. The trade-offs are probably illusory, particularly considering the cherry-picking of risks and the fat-tailed non-linear likelihood… Read more
Evaluation is not a ‘thing’ – it’s an ongoing state of mind Friday July 10, 2020 By Nicholas Gruen Editors' Picks Expanding on in his Evaluator General theory, lateral thinking economist Nicholas Gruen suggests we look at evaluation in a completely new light. Because the idea I… Read more
Premium Insights and analysis What works: getting to the land of ‘how’ – part 3 Friday July 3, 2020 By Nicholas Gruen Editors' Picks For as long as we continue to characterise what we’re trying to achieve with a name as amorphous as an ‘innovation agenda’, it’s hard to… Read more
Premium Insights and analysis What works: getting to the land of ‘how’ – part 2 Wednesday July 1, 2020 By Nicholas Gruen Thought Leadership In this second installment of his three-part series, economist and forward thinker Nicholas Gruen explains more of why it is so important to understand the… Read more
Premium Expert briefings What works: getting to the land of ‘how’ – part 1 Wednesday July 1, 2020 By Nicholas Gruen Features Government leaders understanding what they need to do when faced with impending issues is one thing. But here, in the first of a three-part series,… Read more
Opinion: What things shouldn’t we be wasting this crisis on? Monday March 30, 2020 By Nicholas Gruen Economy & Industry Nicholas Gruen brainstorms a series of governance opportunities presented by the COVID-19 virus, and encourages a national 'knowledge commons' for ideas we should be leaping… Read more
Opinion: PANIC IS OUR FRIEND! Tuesday March 24, 2020 By Nicholas Gruen Features The government could show the public their health and economic interests are being taken into account by committing to releasing an independent report on the… Read more
Whitlam didn’t really end our old honours system. We’re still handing Orders of Australia to the wrong people Monday February 10, 2020 By Nicholas Gruen Features We think of Gough Whitlam’s Government as the most radical in our post-war history, dedicated to its leader’s ‘crash through or crash’ style. (In the… Read more
Academia: from inefficient effectiveness to efficient ineffectiveness Friday January 31, 2020 By Nicholas Gruen Features If, as I think, academia has gone from being inefficient but effective to being efficient but ineffective (a proposition I won’t defend here), the mechanism… Read more
Pedantry is not its own reward: it’s certainly not ours! Friday December 6, 2019 By Nicholas Gruen Editors' Picks Pedantry is alluring. Especially if one gets some aesthetic satisfaction from the way words are used. Read more
Market prices, opportunity costs, and all the other realities a society has to deal with. Notes on 'Economics in Two Lessons' Friday July 26, 2019 By Nicholas Gruen Economy & Industry John Quiggin's new book, 'Economics in Two Lessons', is a general introduction to economics for the interested public. Here is the speech Nicholas Gruen delivered… Read more
Market – what market? The catch 22 at the heart of innovation in government Tuesday July 23, 2019 By Nicholas Gruen Features There is a huge catch 22 driving impact measurement in human services. A lot of the evaluation is done because governments seek it, but then… Read more
Accountability: from above and below Wednesday June 26, 2019 By Nicholas Gruen Editors' Picks The buck stops with you and the problems start with you: Are you after accountability or accountability theatre?… Read more
Valuing the Australian Census Monday June 17, 2019 By Nicholas Gruen Community & Social Statistical agencies worldwide have come under pressure from ministers to provide greater justification for the hundreds of millions of dollars of costs of a national… Read more
Lessons from the Hawke and Howard years of Australian governance Friday May 17, 2019 By Nicholas Gruen Features 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… Read more
