Who we are

Lateral Economics is a network of professionals with a wealth of experience and expertise in economic reform and public policy.  We draw on a range of people from a range of professional backgrounds to meet clients' needs.   

Our principals are:

Nicholas Gruen

Lateral Economics' CEO is Nicholas Gruen, an economist with three decades of achievement and experience in the public sector, business and academia.

Dr Gruen has worked in a diverse range of public policy and other roles since 1981:

• He was economic policy adviser to two Federal Government Ministers – Treasurer John Dawkins (1990-1994) and Industry Minister John Button (1981-1985).
• He was appointed to the Productivity Commission (1993-1997) where he was Presiding Commissioner of one inquiry and an industry study commissioned by the ACCC and Associate Commissioner on five inquiries.
• He was Director of the Business Council of Australia’s New Directions economic reform project (1997-2000).
• In 2008 he was a member of the Cutler Review into the Australian Innovation System.
• In 2009 he was Chairman of the Federal Government’s Government 2.0 Taskforce.
• From 2010 to 2011 he was founding Chairman of Kaggle.
• From 2000 he has been CEO of Lateral Economics and Peach Financial Group.
• He is also Chairman of Online Opinion and The Australian Centre for Social Innovation.

Dr Gruen holds a PhD and BA Hons (First Class) from the ANU and a LLB Hons from Melbourne University. He has published in national and international academic journals on a range of issues from tariff reform to competition policy, intellectual property, innovation in government and macro-economic policy. He has been a regular columnist for the Australian Financial Review and the Courier Mail, has been published in anthologies of Australia’s Best Essays and Australia’s Best Political Writing and is a substantial contributor to Australia's thriving policy blog scene at Club Troppo.  

Alex Coram

Alex Coram is Winthrop Professor of Political Economy at the University of Western Australia.  He is also a visiting professor in the Aberdeen Business School and holds an Honorary Professorship at the University of Tasmania. He has held the Helen Sheridan chair in Economics at the University of Massachusetts.

He has worked for the Department of Infrastructure in Victoria on models of city development and on providing training programmes for senior management and has consulted for law firms on problems of contracting.  He has also consulted on energy problems and nuclear power.

He specializes in solving non-standard problems particularly those involving applications of mathematical game theory, control theory and optimization theory more generally to problems in:

• public sector management;
• institutional design;
• optimal contracting and;
• the dynamics of energy systems.

He has been seconded to other universities in Australia to develop postgraduate courses in public sector management.

He has published two books and approximately 50 papers in international scientific journals on such problems as: the effect of luck on life time wealth distribution; arms races; international capital flows; political party competition; environmental problems and international environmental management. He has also written a number of papers for government. He is currently working on problems of the dynamics of energy use under constraints imposed by emissions reduction.

Philip Hagan

Philip Hagan partners with Lateral Economics on selected projects. He is also principal of AustralAsia Economics. He is an economist with extensive experience in policy making in the public sector, having worked in senior positions in both Federal and State Governments. After a long career at the Industries Assistance Commission, he was an Assistant Secretary with its successor body – the Industry Commission (which is now the Productivity Commission) and also with the Health Department. He was also Deputy CEO of the South Australian Development Council, where he worked on economic development issues. Mr Hagan now works as a consultant to the public and private sectors.

Philip’s expertise and background is in microeconomics. He also has extensive experience in the field of health and ageing. He also worked for a period developing quantitative models of the Australian economy and is familiar with Australian economic statistics. Mr Hagan holds bachelor’s degrees in science and economics and an MBA and is an Adjunct Research Fellow with the University of South Australia.

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