Nicholas John Gruen (22 April 1957 in Beacon Hill, New South Wales is a prominent Australian economist and the CEO of Lateral Economics and Peach Home Loans.

Contents 1 Education 2 Career 3 Family 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Education

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Gruen attended Campbell High before going on to receive a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Melbourne in 1981 and a Bachelor of Arts with first class honours from the Australian National University in Canberra in 1982. In 1989 he received a Graduate Diploma in Economics and Finance and in 1996 a PhD in economics, both from the Australian National University.

[edit] Career

Gruen worked as adviser to Senator and Federal Industry Minister John Button from 1981 to 1985 and in this time played a major role in the development of the Button car plan, a initiative to prepare the Australian car industry for a period of rationalisation and lower tariffs. From 1991 to 1994 economic adviser to Treasurer John Dawkins and then was appointed to the Productivity Commission for two years. In 1997 he joined the Business Council of Australia where he remained until he founded and became CEO of two firms, economic consultancy Lateral Economics and discount finance broker Peach Home Loans. In this period he has advised Federal and State Governments in several capacities. In 2009 Gruen was appointed as chair of the Federal Government's Government 2.0 Taskforce [1].

Gruen has become prominent in public economic discussion. He had a weekly economic column for the Courier Mail and also writes for the Australian Financial Review. Other media activities include filling in for Ross Gittins' column in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age^[1] by Gittins' request and appearing on the radio station Triple J^[2]. He has also is a regular contributor to the popular blog Club Troppo and is an author on On Line Opinion. He has held visiting fellowships at the University of Melbourne and the Australian National University.

He is currently chairing the Government 2.0 Taskforce for the the Australian Government ^[3]

[edit] Family

Gruen is the son of prominent Australian economist Fred Gruen and the brother of Federal Treasury official David Gruen.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Lateral Economics
• Peach Home Loans
• Ross Gittins article on Gruen
• A statement by several prominent Australian economists organised by Gruen