Category Archives: Ethics

Orwell that ends well: Can evaluation save us from ourselves?

Posted on September 1, 2020 by Nicholas Gruen

When I first saw the Productivity Commission’s Draft Indigenous Evaluation Strategy, my heart sank. I’d had had several quite extensive meetings with Romlie Mokak, the Indigenous Commissioner at the PC who struck me as a person of great intelligence, straightforwardness … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Critique, Economics and public policy, Ethics, History, Innovation, Political theory, Politics - national, Politics - Northern Territory, regulation | 11 Comments

Professor Foster’s cost-benefit analysis for the Victorian parliament.

Posted on August 20, 2020 by Paul Frijters

[below the exact text (with different font/highlight) as Gigi Foster’s submission to the Victorian parliamentary library in mid-August here. To see her health-related notes, including on topics like non-linearities and Sweden, see here, and to see all documents of that … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Democracy, Economics and public policy, Education, Employment, Ethics, Health, Medical, Politics - national, Science, Social Policy | 158 Comments

The competition delusion: the presentation

Posted on August 4, 2020 by Nicholas Gruen

Early this year I published an essay in the Griffith Review critiquing what I called the competition delusion. I was passing by more common critiques of competition, which for instance argue that competition isn’t necessarily a great idea in numerous … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy, Economics and public policy, Education, Ethics, History, Philosophy, Political theory, Sortition and citizens’ juries | 7 Comments

The Evaluator General

Posted on May 29, 2020 by Nicholas Gruen

I recently sent a couple of emails explaining the Evaluator General and also did an extended interview explaining the ideas in the context of Matt Jones’ Public Policy class at Melbourne Uni. The first email below is the one I … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics and public policy, Ethics, Isegoria | 12 Comments

Keeping a cool head – thinking about the covid-19 crisis: a guest post from Toby Phillips

Posted on March 21, 2020 by Nicholas Gruen

This post is a direct response and rebuttal to the recent ‘Has the coronavirus panic cost us at least 10 million lives already?’ by Paul Fritjers. Paul’s post takes the current covid-19 crisis, and uses some haphazard multiplication to create … Continue reading →

Posted in Best From Elsewhere, Death and taxes, Democracy, Economics and public policy, Employment, Ethics, Politics - international, Politics - national | 5 Comments

The Weinstein case: is #Metoo delivering justice?

Posted on February 26, 2020 by Paul Frijters

They got him! It cost millions of dollars in legal fees, and involved multiple trials, settlements, and dismissal of the worst charges, but they convicted Harvey Weinstein. A bit like a buck who is taken down by a pack of … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Critique, Ethics, Gender, History, Politics - international, Politics - national, Social Policy, Society | 5 Comments

Honours: 2020

Posted on February 11, 2020 by Nicholas Gruen

I wrote a piece on Australia’s Honours system for Australia Day last year and decided this year to make it an annual event. So here’s this year’s column, which in the ‘original’ had a couple of hundred words edited out of it … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Critique, Democracy, Ethics | 2 Comments