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Lateral Economics

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) centres on the concept of isegoria: 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.