Fred Gruen - Post-advisory Career

Post-advisory Career

In August 1975 he informed the Prime Minister's Department of his desire to return to the ANU full time and he made the move in March 1976 remaining at the ANU as professor and then as professor emeritus for the rest of his life.

Gruen was an academic entrepreneur initiating important projects such as a series of reviews of Australian economics, a survey of the Australian economy by the Brookings Institution and the foundation of the Centre for Economic Policy Research. His talents were particularly well suited to identifying and motivating talent and to attracting it to the Centre. As an administrator, he was responsible for hiring and encouraging many of Australia's best-known academic economists. Many were somewhat to the left of centre, though few trenchantly so, but for Gruen one's position on the political spectrum was never a pre-requisite. Indeed he was a great believer in people having their ideological world view challenged. He hired Bob Gregory, Bruce Chapman, John Quiggin, Steve Dowrick and Cathy Baird all of whom were exceptionally talented, productive and sensible.

The Hawke Government sought informal advice from Gruen from time to time and asked him to participate in several inquiries into economic policy matters. His greatest achievement was the unanimity of purpose he brought to a large group of people from very different walks of life comprising a committee to advise Government on the design of the assets test for government benefits. Under Gruen's chairmanship the committee unanimously recommended that the test not exempt the family home from the assets test, though this advice proved too radical for the Government and the family home has been exempted from the assets test ever since.