---
title: Lateral Economics
type: research
status: active
country: AU
website: https://www.lateraleconomics.com.au
logo: /assets/org-logos/lateral-economics.webp
contact:
  checked: 2026-07-24
  email: mail@lateraleconomics.com.au
  phone: +61 403 077 732
  source: https://www.lateraleconomics.com.au
summary: An Australian policy economics consultancy led by Nicholas Gruen — advising
  on economic reform, innovation, and democratic governance, with a particular interest
  in how institutions can better incorporate citizens' knowledge and deliberation.
concepts:
- isegoria
- deliberative-democracy
- cognitive-division-of-labour
- prediction-markets
- citizens-assembly
- tribal-epistemology
location:
  latitude: -33.8688
  longitude: 151.2093
  name: Sydney, Australia
  precision: city
events:
- date: '2000-01-01'
  title: Founded by economist Nicholas Gruen as an economic consultancy
  url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Gruen
  quote: In 2000 he founded economic consultancy Lateral Economics
  proof_level: high
  url_checked: '2026-08-20'
  notable: true
activity:
  manual:
    checked: 2026-06-07
    date: 2026-06-07
    note: Know personally that this is still active.
  dod:
    checked: 2026-07-16
    date: 2026-07-16
    note: Website loaded directly and describes current services/team under Nicholas
      Gruen (CEO); page itself undated so corroborated via web search showing Gruen's
      Substack/Club Troppo commentary continuing into 2026
    url: https://www.lateraleconomics.com.au
  sitemap:
    checked: 2026-08-17
    date: 2026-06-09
    note: Page last modified (from sitemap)
    url: https://www.lateraleconomics.com.au/sitemap.xml
last_checked: '2026-07-16'
---

Lateral Economics is a policy consultancy founded and led by Nicholas Gruen, a widely published Australian economist and commentator. The firm works with government clients on economic reform, productivity, and innovation policy — but Gruen is perhaps best known publicly for his advocacy of democratic reform, particularly citizens' juries and sortition as mechanisms for improving the quality of collective decision-making.

Gruen's democracy-relevant argument (developed extensively in talks, articles, and podcasts including a [2020 DOD episode](../../blog/posts/2020-03-20.md)) centres on the concept of [isegoria](../concepts/isegoria.md): elections structurally degrade the quality of democratic deliberation by rewarding emotional salience and tribal loyalty over considered reasoning, while randomly selected citizens' juries restore equal standing and produce more considered outcomes.

He has advocated for a philanthropically funded standing citizens' jury that would shadow parliament — operating without formal power initially, but providing an evidence base for the model.

## Key people

- **[Nicholas Gruen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Gruen)** — founder and principal. Australian economist, commentator, and one of the most consistent Australian voices for sortition and citizens' juries as mechanisms for improving democratic deliberation. Has presented to DOD multiple times. [2020 DOD episode](../../blog/posts/2020-03-20.md)

## Links

- Website: [lateraleconomics.com.au](https://www.lateraleconomics.com.au)
- Nicholas Gruen's Substack: [nicholasgruen.substack.com](https://nicholasgruen.substack.com)

## See also

- [Isegoria](../concepts/isegoria.md)
- [Cognitive Division of Labour](../concepts/cognitive-division-of-labour.md)
- [Prediction Markets](../concepts/prediction-markets.md)
- [Citizens' Assembly](../concepts/citizens-assembly.md)
- [Tribal Epistemology](../concepts/tribal-epistemology.md)