Cost Effectiveness of Most Widely Cited Think Tanks

The progressive Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) has released an updated version of a study about the cost effectiveness of the most widely cited think tanks.  CEPR, which rates itself as #1 again, describes it as "an analysis that calculates the number of media hits per budget dollar."

Here are the top ten:

1. Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR): .86 citations per $10,000
2. Economic Policy Institute (EPI): 0.76
3. Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP): 0.53
4. American Enterprise Institute (AEI): 0.37
5. Cato Institute: 0.35
6. Brookings Institution: 0.29
7. Manhattan Institute: 0.25
8. Center for American Progress (CAP): 0.22
9. Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE): 0.22
10. Atlantic Council: 0.22

If you click on the link here, you can also view the top think tanks rated by website traffic per budget dollar.  Topping that list:

1. CEPR
2. Cato Institute
3. Heritage Foundation
4. EPI
5. WINEP

CEPR was co-founded in 1999 by economists Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot, and approximately 80 percent of CEPR's funding comes from grants made by foundations.

Foundation support in 2011 included:

• Annie E. Casey Foundation
• Arca Foundation
• Atlantic Philanthropies
• Ford Foundation
• Moriah Foundation
• National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI)
• Open Society Foundations
• Public Welfare Foundation
• Rockefeller Brothers Fund
• Rockefeller Family Fund
• Russell Sage Foundation
• Sloan Foundation
• Streisand Foundation

The Washington, DC-based CEPR has no connection or relationship whatsoever with the London-based Centre for Economic Policy Research.

And in case you missed it, here is the 2013 "Think Tank Spectrum" study by Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) which ranks think tanks by media citations.