What we’re about
Our name ‘Lateral Economics’ says it all.
We do things differently so our clients reap the rewards. In addition to our direct work with government, we work with many of our clients to help them understand their social, environmental and economic impact under various scenarios. Influencing policy outcomes requires more than advocacy. It requires an understanding of how a complex jigsaw of interests and ideas fit together. The key is understanding the goals of a business or government agency, understanding the principal drivers of policy and the public interest, and finding mutually advantageous ways to fit them together.
How we can assist you
We help our clients in their dealings with government, budgeting and government policy. Lateral Economics can help your organisation formulate ambitious but realistic objectives and we can help you achieve those objectives. We can do it through submissions, the management and/or conducting of cost/benefit analysis or independent research, and, where appropriate, private or public advocacy.
And we help government agencies in the process of policy formulation, analysis and training.
We have wide-ranging experience of economic reform and policy development in such areas as competition policy, environmental policy and industry policy.
Our services range from a few hours of a consultant’s time, to major exercises in public policy development, communication and advocacy: from the preparation of a submission to government, or a senior executive’s speech, to participation in strategic planning for a business or government agency.
“Policy making is always constrained by the balancing of interests. But the importance and power of ideas is routinely underestimated.
Really good policy ideas solve multiple problems simultaneously. Despite the discomfort they might entail, and their frequent reversals of political fortune, really good policy ideas have a habit of becoming unstoppable.”