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
Nicholas Gruen gets to the nub of his beef with Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman. Read More
A government or other body might want to have a strategy, but equity is relevant to a vast number of policy decisions taken every day, says Nicholas Gruen. Read More
When the financial crisis struck, it was back to the economics Max Corden learned in the 40s and 50s — a golden age of economics in… Read More
Part two of Nicholas Gruen's exploration of how central banks use their statutory independence. For decades the "people's bank" was only accessible to the banking elite, and profits flowed accordingly, then came digital. Read More
Lateral Economics CEO Nicholas Gruen considers the concept of statutory independence, and what government bodies like the Productivity Commission or the Reserve Bank could do with it if they were bolder and less bureaucratic. Read More
Economist Nicholas Gruen looks at problems with various attempts to measure wellbeing and the struggle to get from noble principles to practical outcomes. Read More
There are some commonsense 'hacks' government could use to improve Australians' wellbeing, argues economist Nicholas Gruen. Read More
Government agencies around the world have been discussing wellbeing for a long time, but this has not filtered through to action on the ground, argues economist Nicholas Gruen. The first of a four-part essay series about failures of policy debate to translate into outcomes. Read More
Allowing the Reserve Bank to provide retail services could generate massive savings, argues economist Nicholas Gruen. And why shouldn't all Australians be able to access high-performing public service super funds? Read More
