Rep. Hensarling Using Heritage to Take Over Speakership?

Here is more from The Hill newspaper:

If Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) wants to fuel speculation that he’s going to make a run for Speaker later this year, he’ll have his chance this week.

The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, considered one of the few Republicans who could mount a serious challenge to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) or Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), will attack crony capitalism on Tuesday in a major speech at the Heritage Foundation.

Hensarling’s venue on Tuesday is as noteworthy as his topic. Long one of the capital’s most influential conservative think tanks, Heritage and its political arm, Heritage Action, have become openly hostile to the House GOP leadership over the last two years.

Here is what Roll Call had to say:

That Hensarling spoke at the Heritage Foundation is news in its own right. Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, has made no qualms about his increasing frustration with Heritage, and for Hensarling, who was once the GOP Conference chairman but stepped down to take the gavel of Financial Services, speaking at Heritage while they are in an awkward battle with House leadership may be seen as a soft rebuke of Boehner.

Rep. Hensarling spoke just two hours after Heritage Foundation suffered one of its harshest congressional rebukes ever, with more congressmen than ever before breaking from the advice of Heritage Action and voting for a water resources bill.  Heritage Action had strongly recommended "no" votes on that bill.

The Hensarling speech at Heritage can be viewed here.

Think Tank Quickies (#124)

• Fun with Dick Cheney & Lynne Cheney at AEI.
• Think tank thinks thinking tanks policy needs rethink.
• Wilson Quarterly relaunches on digital platform.
• Think tank boom in Tunisia.
• Wilson Center holds event on why crack-smoking Rob Ford is still mayor of Toronto.
• What do corporations get for donations to think tanks?
• Nearly "unbridgeable gap" between research assistants and senior fellow at think tanks; few middle-level research positions in Washington think tanks; leading to lack of foreign affairs expertise.
• CFR's Nigeria Security Tracker - mapping violence in Nigeria.
• Brookings cafeteria "awesome?"
• Major liberal think tank (CAP) wants Obamacare management shakeup.

Lack of Mid-Level Think Tankers Leaves Expertise Gap

Here is more from Melinda Haring, Associate Scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) and Hannah Thoburn, Eurasia Analyst at the Foreign Policy Initiative and Senior Research Assistant at Brookings:

As journalists seek to understand the crisis in Ukraine and Putin’s next moves, they find themselves turning time and again to the same experts for insights and quotes. In the media, these same talking heads have bemoaned the dearth of junior peers and dwindling resources available to educate them.

While there are entry-level and high-level jobs, there is nearly no opportunity for incremental career advancement working on the former Soviet Union in Washington today. The lack of mid-level positions affords few chances to develop analytic and leadership skills or regional expertise. One either makes coffee and schedules meetings or writes books and talks to Putin. Frustration at the paucity of opportunities for growth pushes many young experts out of the field.

But these are symptoms, not the disease. The disease is a double whammy: a disregard for regional expertise and the disappearance of key rungs in the career ladder.

Think tanks, once regarded as elite universities without students, employ research assistants and senior fellows, but there is a nearly unbridgeable gap between them. Even if research assistants are loyal to the institution, publish furiously and earn a PhD, only rarely will they become senior fellows. There are few mid-level research positions in Washington think tanks and therefore no ladder to climb and no opportunity for advancement.

Here is the story of one man trying to find a "mid-level" policy job as a Russia expert.  Here is a piece about the lack of Central Asia experts.  Are there only one or two Russia scholars at Washington think tanks in there 30s?

Why do so many think tanks lack mid-level, mid-career positions?  Is it because they are too expensive to house at think tanks (e.g., cannot raise funds compared to someone more senior but still have to pay them more than junior staff)?

As DeMint & McConnell Feud, Chao Stuck in Middle

Awkward.  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and former senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) have a long history a feuding.  DeMint, who now heads the Heritage Foundation, is the boss of Elaine Chao, who happens to be McConnel's wife.

Chao is a Distinguished Fellow at the conservative think tank, where she works on jobs, employment, trade, workforce, and competitiveness issues.  She is currently working hard to support her husband is his Senate re-election bid, but DeMint is encouraging her husband's critics in the election.

Here is how Washington lobbyist and McConnell-Chao friend Richard Hohlt put it: "She's at Heritage as a fellow, and there is Heritage trying to blow him up."

Here is more on the tension and some more background.  Those think tank cocktail receptions have to be pretty awkward...

Should Think Tank Reports Be Shorter?

Besides Think Tank Watch, how many of you have actually read a think tank report from front to back?  And I'm not just talking about the 500-pager, I'm talking about a 10- or 20-page report?

Yesterday, Think Tank Watch wrote a piece titled "Does Anyone Actually Read Think Tank Reports."  And the seeming lack of readership of many reports floating around Washington and elsewhere got me thinking, should think tank reports be shorter?

If so, perhaps the wire services can provide a model.  Here is more on the Associated Press's new guidelines for article length:

The world’s largest independent news organization, the Associated Press...has told its journalists to cut the fat — and keep their stories between 300 and 500 words.

Exceptions: AP has told its reporters that the top one or two stories in each state may run between 500 and 700 words, and the top global stories of the day may be a practically Faulknerian 700-plus words. Reporters in AP’s newly expanded investigative unit will be permitted to bust the limits.

AP’s wire-service rival, Reuters, instructed its reporters to keep stories under 500 words.

To be sure, think tankers are not necessarily journalists, and there are many short reports that think tank scholars write.  Moreover, there are many different formats that think tanks are using, such as blog posts and short policy briefs.

But most of the ideas in reports that Think Tank Watch reviews can be said with much more brevity.

Think Tank Quickies (#123)

• Will think tanks be impacted by decline of donors with wills?
• UK invites Atlantic Council to host future leaders meeting at NATO Wales Summit.
• Wilson Center report: "Surf and Turf: The Environmental Impact's of China's Growing Appetite for Pork and Seafood."
• What if Steven Seagal and Dennis Rodman formed a foreign policy think tank?
• China establishes new financial think tank.
• Rise of think tanks: Foreign policy and national security culture in Turkey.
• Close to one-third of DC and NY's foreign affairs think tanks run by women.
• Think tanks influence public policy, but who influences think tanks?
• US climate report and Cato.
• This year Heritage Foundation ended 5-year sponsorship of Rush Limbaugh's show, after $9.5+ million in contributions.

Does Anyone Actually Read Think Tank Reports?

The World Bank recently conducted a study about how many of its reports are actually downloaded.  Here are the shocking results, as summarized by The Washington Post:

Nearly one-third of their [World Bank] PDF reports had never been downloaded, not even once. Another 40 percent of their reports had been downloaded fewer than 100 times. Only 13 percent had seen more than 250 downloads in their lifetimes. Since most World Bank reports have a stated objective of informing public debate or government policy, this seems like a pretty lousy track record.

...It's fair to assume that many big-idea reports with lofty goals to elevate the public discourse never get read by anyone other than the report writer and maybe an editor or two. Maybe the author's spouse. Or mom.

And don't think for a second that this is just a World Bank problem. PDF reports are basically the bread and butter of Washington's huge think tank industry, for instance. Every single one of these groups should be taking a serious look at their own PDF analytics the way the bank has.

Think Tank Watch is not aware of any think tank that has publicly released data regarding the viewership of its reports.  But Think Tank Watch is pretty sure that many think tanks reports fade away into obscurity without any readers at all.

Breaking News: SIPRI Heads Axed

Both the Director (Tilman Bruck) and Chairman (Goran Lennmarker) of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) have have been kicked out of their positions amid a growing controversy over the work environment at the think tank.

The Governing Board of SIPRI and Tilman Bruck have agreed that Bruck will leave his position as Director of SIPRI on June 30, 2014.  Bruck, however, will continue to be affiliated with SIPRI as a Distinguished Senior Fellow.

The SIPRI Governing Board will be chaired by the Deputy Chairman Jayantha Dhanapala (with the title of "Acting Director") until further notice.

In a press release, SIPRI said that the Governing Board has agreed to appoint an international expert to undertake a comprehensive review of SIPRI and to make recommendations for its future.

More details coming soon...

Coalition of Think Tanks to Host Talks on Iran Nuclear Deal

A coalition of think tanks will be hosting three discussions about the Iran nuclear negotiations to coincide with the last three rounds of the talks.

The first event, titled "The Rubik's Cube of a Final Agreement," will be held May 13 at the US Institute of Peace (USIP) and will explore 10 issues that need to be resolved in the negotiations.

The coalition includes: USIP, RAND Corp., Wilson Center, Center for a New American Security (CNAS), and Stimson Center.  It also includes Partnership for a Secure America, Ploughshares Fund, and staff from Brookings and the Center for Non-Proliferation Studies.

The other two discussions will be held on June 10 and July 8.  The deadline the P5+1 countries have set for reaching a nuclear agreement with Iran in July 20, 2014.

Think Tank Quickies (#122)

• Former Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL): Congress turns to think tanks such as AEI and Heritage to read the thousands of reports that federal agency produce for Congress.
• HuffPo: A plethora of think tanks continue to criticize the Obama Administration for presiding over what appears to be persistent failures in the foreign policy arena.
• Think tanks starting to shape the debate on driverless cars.
• Track events related to the crisis in Ukraine with Atlantic Council's "Ukraine Alert." 
• Why Zimbabwe needs a national think tank.
• Asia Society launches US-Asia think tank: Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI).
• Sharon Burke, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy Plans and Programs, joins New America Foundation (NAF) as a Senior Advisor.
• Robert Litan and Fed economist Louise Sheiner join Brookings.
• New Peterson Institute report: "Economic Normalization with Cuba: A Roadmap for US Policymakers."
• New CSIS headquarters achieves LEED platinum status, becoming only 5th Washington, DC building to get that award; former USTR chief agriculture negotiator Islam Siddiqui joins CSIS as Senior Adviser.

WSJ.com Launches New "Think Tank" Feature

The Wall Street Journal has launched a new feature called Think Tank, a section of WSJ.com that draws news and analysis from outside contributors from across the political spectrum.

According to WSJ, the goal of the new feature is to help strengthen its coverage of Washington politics, policy, and national security.  More details and other changes to WSJ.com can be found here.

So far, writers that have contributed to the Think Tank feature include: Jeff Horwitt, Richard Reeves, Linda Killian, David Wessel, Jim Manley, Dennis Ross, Ben Domenech, Timothy Noah, Jess McIntosh, Mollie Ziegler Hemingway, Brian Katulis, Stephen Sestanovich, John Feehery, Michael O'Hanlon, Peter Wehner, Kimberly Kagan, and Drew Altman.

Although this new feature is called "Think Tank," many of the blog posts have nothing to do with think tanks and are not written by think tankers.

Clintons Take Control of Think Tank Land

The Clintons are cozying up to some of the most powerful think tanks in Washington, making sure that influential think tanks are on their side should Hillary Clinton decide to run for president.

Brookings recently announced that it will host former President Bill Clinton on Thursday (May 15) for the inaugural Robert S. Brookings President's Lecture.  He will speak on the the global economy.

Bill Clinton is also set to headline the Center for American Progress (CAP) annual fundraiser on May 14.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton will be a keynote speaker this week at New America Foundation's (NAF) annual conference focusing on "Big Ideas for a New America."

Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post about Hillary Clinton speaking at CAP's 10th anniversary event.  Here is another previous Think Tank Watch post about CAP founder John Podesta convening meetings for a Hillary run.

CAP was recently ranked as the 30th best think tank in the US by the annual University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.  CAP was also ranked as the 10th best think tank in the US.

And to prepare for a 2032 presidential run, Chelsea Clinton has become a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).  Bill Clinton is also a CFR member, but Hillary is not.  But she has given CFR some love.  Hillary used the foreign policy-focused think tank to give her final speech as Secretary of State.

Congressman Defends Funding for East-West Center

Here is more from Roll Call:

A senator is vocally contesting the inclusion of a project in his home state in the 2014 ”Congressional Pig Book.”

Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, issued a statement over the weekend touting his effort to preserve (and in fact increase) funding for the East-West Center, a cultural and education exchange center established by Congress in 1960 that’s based in Honolulu.

“For years, the State Department tried to eliminate the center by not requesting funding in the department’s annual budget requests,” the group Citizens Against Government Waste said in the “Pig Book.”

Of course, attempting to zero out funding for a center in the home state of a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee was never likely to succeed. That was true for years under the watchful eye of the late Democratic Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, and the center has continued past his death.

Schatz has defended its funding since then, and in a Saturday statement, he particularly seized on the presence of Texas Republican Ted Cruz at the Citizens Against Government Waste 2014 unveil event, along with live pigs and a costumed pig character.

Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post titled "East-West Center Collapsing?"

The East-West Center (EWC) was established in 1960 by the US Congress.  Here is a biography of EWC President Charles Morrison.  Here is a list of EWC's Board of Governors.  Here is its annual report from 2012 and one from 2013.

The think tank has a 21-acre campus in Honolulu, Hawaii as well as an office in Washington, DC.

EWC was recently rated as the 12th best government-affiliated think tank by the University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.

Think Tank Quickies (#121)

• White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) Google/Netflix party held at US Institute of Peace (USIP).
• CFR President Richard Haass: American foreign policy in "troubling disarray."
• African think tanks take great strides in building their policy engagement capacity.
• US envoy Martin Indyk headed back to think tank land?
• US has best brains and best think tanks, yet often misjudges other countries.
• Heritage Action rips House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).
• Video: The future of think tank communications.
• Student think tank tackles proliferation, energy, and weapons.
• Think Tank Watch on CNAS, via CNAS.
• Flashback: 2011 survey by Micah Zenko: Women make up less than 30% of senior positions at think tanks.

Most Think Tanks Flunk in Funding Transparency Says New Report

The nonprofit groups Transparify has released the first-of-its-kind report on think tank funding transparency, and not surprisingly, most think tanks have essentially failed.

Here is more from The New York Times:

According to a survey of the world’s most prominent research organizations, the institutions share an important trait: a relatively poor record of disclosing the sources of their financing.

The survey, conducted by a small nonprofit group called Transparify, has already caused major ripples in the think tank world, even before its official release.

Major research organizations around the world — including at least half a dozen in the United States like the Washington-based Stimson Center, which focuses on foreign policy, and the Center for Global Development, which combats poverty worldwide — have taken steps in recent months to avoid a poor ranking by disclosing more information about their funding sources on their websites.

Transparify is one of nearly three dozen nonprofit groups worldwide that have recently been stepping up pressure on research groups to be more transparent, with other major players including Who Funds You?, a Britain-based organization, and the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard.

The ratings reportedly will be updated at the end of the year and then annually.  A partial rankings list can be found here.

Update: The full think tank survey of 169 think tanks in 47 countries can be found here.

On a scale of 1-5, North American think tanks are the most transparent (2.5), then European think tanks (2.3), then African (1.8) and South American (1.8), and finally South Asia & Oceania think tanks (1.5).

There were only two "highly transparent" (i.e., five-star) think tanks in the US: Center for Global Development (CGD) and World Resources Institute (WRI).

"Transparent: (i.e., four-star) think tanks in the US include: Brookings, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), Heritage Foundation, RAND Corp., Urban Institute, and Wilson Center.

The least transparent (i.e., one-star) think tanks in the US include Center for American Progress (CAP), Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Hoover Institution, and Hudson Institute.

The Transparify report says that the number of transparent or highly transparent think tanks increased from 25 to 35 over the first four months of 2014 alone, an increase of 40 percent.  Transparify says that at least 28 think tanks in its sample are likely to become more transparent by the end of 2014.

And in case you were wondering, Transparify if funded by the Think Tank Fund of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), a grantmaking operation funded by George Soros.

Brookings Wants Deeper Impact on Climate & Energy Policy

This week the Brookings Institution announced a new blog called PlanetPolicy which aims to shape the debate on energy and climate change.

Brookings President Strobe Talbott wrote this week about how important climate change is to the think tank:

...contributing to the search for a transformative climate and energy policy is a Brookings priority. In the dozen years that I’ve been at Brookings, my colleagues and I have been on the case.  We have published dozens of books on the subject, including one that Bill Antholis and I wrote in 2010.  All five of our research programs have promoted climate and change and clean energy research—designing local energy innovation initiatives, shaping the design and economic assessment of national approaches, shaping the structure of global negotiations, and crafting diplomatic strategies for U.S.-China cooperation. We have worked closely with administrations and members of Congress from both parties, the media, and numerous NGOs to contribute our ideas directly into the public debate and the policy process.

Talbott wrote that the latest United Nations (UN) assessment on climate change raises the urgency of the threat, and said that Brookings wants to expand the scope and increase the impact of its climate-related work.

Talbott also said that Brookings has been beefing up its energy/climate team.  He cited the recent appointment of Qi Ye as Senior Fellow and Director of the Brookings Tsinghua Center, and said that Ye is one of China's leading authorities on environmental implementation.  He also pointed to the Brookings India Center led by Vikram Mehta, an expert on energy policy.  Brookings also announced a few weeks ago that Patricia Mulroy, one of the US's leading authorities on water resources, will join Brookings as a Senior Fellow in Metropolitan Studies.

Brookings, according to Talbott, wants to design smart policies that can reduce carbon emissions, without reducing energy security or American competitiveness.  To that end, Brookings has launched the new PlanetPolicy blog which will cover a range of questions and solutions for the climate and energy challenges facing the world.

The blog already has several posts, including one from William Antholis on climate change policy in India, and one from Joshua Meltzer and Claire Langley on the need for US leadership on climate change.  Other writings from Brookings about climate change can be found here.

Brookings was recently ranked as the top think tank in the world by the annual University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.  Brookings was ranked as the 4th best think tank in the world in terms of environmental policy, after World Resources Institute (#1), Stockholm Environment Institute (#2), and Worldwatch Institute (#3).

It is also worth noting that Brookings is not the only think tank with a climate blog.  For example, the Center for American Progress (CAP) has its ClimateProgress blog.

Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post on the first-ever ranking of climate think tanks.

Wealthy Liberal Donors Who Bankrolled CAP Eyeing New Strategy

The Democracy Alliance (DA), an invitation-only donor group founded in 2005 to help build powerful liberal think tanks and activist groups to counterbalance conservatives, is now focusing on state-level work.  The goal is to help give Democrats more influence in redrawing district lines for state legislatures and the US House.  Most notably, DA has helped fund the Center for American Progress (CAP), an influential liberal think tank.

Here is more from The Washington Post:

The focus on ground-level politics would mark a new emphasis for the Democracy Alliance, whose members have helped finance influential national liberal groups such as Media Matters for America, the media watchdog group; America Votes, which coordinates the efforts of allied interest groups; and Catalist, which provides voter data. The Center for American Progress, created during the George W. Bush years, has emerged as one of Washington’s powerhouse think tanks, serving as an intellectual engine for the liberal movement and the Obama White House.

The Democracy Alliance does not make contributions itself. Instead, donors who join the alliance, known as “partners,” are required to contribute at least $200,000 a year to groups it recommends. Among the partners are some of the country’s largest labor unions.  The system has pumped an estimated $500 million into an array of organizations on the left over the past nine years, according to the alliance.

Here is more about the members of Democracy Alliance.  In 2012, Huffington Post said that DA dropped a number of prominent organizations, but has kept funding groups such as Center for American Progress (CAP) - a think tank which has "retained its status with Democracy Alliance as a favored organization."

In 2005, organizers of Democracy Alliance said that the goal of the group would be to "foster the growth of liberal or left-leaning institutions equipped to take on prominent think tanks on the right, including the Heritage Foundation, Hoover Institution, American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and the Cato Institute."

Think Tank Watch is working to verify this, but it has been said that besides CAP, Democracy Alliance supports at least two other think tanks: Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBBP).

CFR's "Think Tanks on International Affairs" Links

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has a useful directory of research links related to think tanks and international affairs.  Here is a summary of what is listed:

Research Links on Think Tanks on International Affairs provides directories, analysis of the functions, impact, and transparency of think tanks, and tools to search for think tank publications and events.

The links are categorized by directories, events/publications, and analysis/transparency.

CFR also has a variety of other research links on a diverse set of topics, including:  development, terrorism, humanitarian relief organizations, climate change, cybersecurity policy, the Americas, the Iraq War, immigration, democracy and human rights, economics, debt/deficits, comparative education, Russia, Africa, Europe, defense/security, Middle East, the Artic, Asia, international trade/investment, and many others.

Think Tank Quickies (#120)

• Think tanks harsher in their appraisal of President Obama is general?
• How the Center for Global Development (CGD) leverages donor dollars.
• Deputy Secretary of State Heather Higginbottom on think tanks: "We understand and value of your support and insight."
• Elites at well-endowed think tanks support Common Core and charter schools?
• Think tank debate in China heats up: Serve the government or be independent?
• Reps from 59 think tanks met at 1st-ever North American Think Summit held in Washington, DC.
• Free-Market Think Tanks in the Americas: Their Debt to the "Chicago Boys." 
• Truman Project and CNP announce new Board of Advisors; present Muskie award to Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL).
• Carter Center sends high-level delegation to Panama elections.
• Atlantic Council's 2014 Distinguished Leadership Awards draws 900; honors Europe at annual awards dinner; VP Joe Biden speaks at ACUS event, and so does Secretary of State John Kerry.

Michele Flournoy Named CEO of CNAS; New Board Members Named

On May 1 the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) announced that Michele Flournoy will become the think tank's new CEO.

She replaces former CNAS CEO Robert Work, who was confirmed this week as the Deputy Secretary of Defense.

Flournoy, a co-founder of CNAS, served as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy from 2009-2012.

CNAS also announced the selection of four new members to the think tank's Board: David Hogen, Lewis Kaden, William Kennard, and David Schwimmer.

Kurt Campbell, the other co-founder of CNAS, remains Chairman of the Board of Directors at the think tank.

CNAS, which has extremely close ties to the Obama Administration, acts both as a talent pool for DoD and as a landing pad for former DoD officials.

In an interview with Foreign Policy (FP), Flournoy said that her short-term plans for the think tank are to have a "sizeable impact on the 2016 elections."  FP describes CNAS as a "clearinghouse for middle-of-the-road foreign policy views" and a "minor league team for the Obama Administration."  Flournoy said that the think tank hopes to help both Democratic and Republican presidential candidates.

In the recently-released University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings, CNAS was rated as the 14th best think tank in the United States.

Urban Institute Issues New Pimps & Prostitutes Study

Last month the Urban Institute (UI) released an intriguing report titled "Estimating the Size and Structure of the Underground Commercial Sex Economy in Eight Major US Cities."

So, how much does a pimp make?  According to the think tank study, pimps and traffickers take home between $5,000 and $32,833 per week.  So in one year, they would make between $260,000 and $1.7 million.  In other words, some would make more money than even the highest paid think tank heads.

Here is the abstract of the report:

The underground commercial sex economy (UCSE) generates millions of dollars annually, yet investigation and data collection remain under resourced. Our study aimed to unveil the scale of the UCSE in eight major US cities—Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, Miami, Seattle, San Diego, and Washington, DC. Across cities, the UCSE's worth was estimated between $39.9 and $290 million in 2007, but decreased since 2003 in all but two cities. Interviews with pimps, traffickers, sex workers, child pornographers, and law enforcement revealed the dynamics central to the underground commercial sex trade—and shaped the policy suggestions to combat it.

The full 339-page report, which was funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ; a research/development/evaluation agency of the US Department of Justice), can be read here.  And here is an easy-to-read summary of key findings.

The report got tons of media attention.  After all, sex sells.

Here is what Slate says about the sex-work study.  Here is what The New York Times says about the think tank study.  Here is what Bloomberg BusinessWeek says about the study.  Here is Gawker's take on the study.  Here is The Atlantic's take on the study.  Here is what The Washington Post says.

In related Urban Institute news, the think tank has a new study showing that declining marriage rates suggest a growing fraction of millennials will remain unmarried through age 40.  Vox summarizes key findings of that study in four charts.

The Urban Institute was recently ranked as the 24th best think tank in the United States in the annual University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.  Urban Institute was also ranked as the second best social policy think tank, only behind the Brookings Institution.

The Urban Institute was established in 1968 by the Lyndon B. Johnson Administration to study the US's urban problems.  Today, federal government contracts provide about 55% of the think tank's operating funds.  Here is a list of Urban Institute's funders.

Bill Clinton: Fundraiser-In-Chief for Think Tank CAP

Here is what Politico is reporting:

Former President Bill Clinton is set to headline next month’s annual Center for American Progress fundraiser, putting him in front of a key group of Democratic constituencies and officials as the party heads into the midterms.

Clinton is speaking on May 14, just months after his wife, Hillary Clinton, addressed an event honoring the group’s tenth year in existence.

Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post about Hillary Clinton speaking at CAP's 10th anniversary event.  Here is another previous Think Tank Watch post about CAP founder John Podesta convening meetings for a Hillary run.

CAP was recently ranked as the 30th best think tank in the US by the annual University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.  CAP was also ranked as the 10th best think tank in the US.

Think Tank Quickies (#119)

• SIPRI says that military spending continues to fall in the West but rises everywhere else.  World military expenditures totaled $1.75 trillion in 2013.
• Advisory Council announced for Hutchins Center for Fiscal and Monetary Policy at Brookings.
• Qi Ye named Director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center (BTC) for Public Policy.
• Heritage Foundation hires John Mitnick as General Counsel.
• Charles Lake (Aflac), Phillipa McCrostie (EY), and former World Bank President Robert Zoellick named to Board of Directors at PIIE.
• CSIS hosts video conference with President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan.
• Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel among those receiving Atlantic Council Honors; John Herbst, former Ambassador to Ukraine and Uzbekistan, named Director of Eurasia Center at ACUS.
• Wilson Center: Will a Mouse Find Malaysia Airlines Flight 370?
• Wilson Center's Asia Program to work with Japan's Waseda University.
• Future Tense - a partnership of New America Foundation (NAF), Arizona State University, and Slate magazine - and Tsinghua University, launch new US-China Green Electronics Competition.

Think Tank Salaries - 2014 Update

Who says that the think tank world is not lucrative?

Sure, people at think tanks often complain about low salaries, but many do not realize that think tank heads are often making out like bandits.

In 2012, Think Tank Watch created a salary list of leaders at top think tanks.  Think Tank Watch has now updated that list (see below) to reflect the latest publicly available information.

Please note: Several of the think tank presidents/CEOs listed are no longer with the think tank.  Also, several heads of think tanks may have started in the middle of the year, and thus, their salary does not necessarily reflect an entire year.

• Ed Feulner (Heritage Foundation): $1,162,696

• Richard Haass (Council on Foreign Relations): $890,954

• Walter Isaacson (Aspen Institute): $783,449

• Arthur Brooks (American Enterprise Institute): $565,772

• James Poterba (National Bureau of Economic Research): $528,631

• Craig Kennedy (German Marshall Fund): $525,000

• Jessica Matthews (CEIP): $492,263

• Michael Rich (RAND Corp.): $489,066

• Edward Crane (Cato): $466,872

• Strobe Talbott (Brookings): $438,940

• Frederick Kempe (Atlantic Council): $420,000

• Fred Bergsten (Peterson Institute for International Economics): $406,105

• Merrick Carey (Lexington Institute): $386,942

• Jason Grumet (Bipartisan Policy Center): $384,502

• Jane Harman (Wilson Center): $375,000

• John Hamre (CSIS): $368,819

• Sarah Rosen Wartell (Urban Institute): $355,236

• Steve Coll (New American Foundation): $320,815 

• Nancy Birdsall (Center for Global Development): $317,353 

• Philip Sharp (Resources for the Future): $296,277

• Kenneth Weinstein (Hudson Institute): $285,906

• Neera Tanden (Center for American Progress): $254,739

• Ellen Laipson (Stimson Center): $243,657

• Scott Bates (Center for National Policy): $218,366

• Nathaniel Fick (Center for a New American Security): $217,786

• Lawrence Mishel (Economic Policy Institute): $214,349

• Jonathan Cowan (Third Way): $212,801

• Richard Solomon (US Institute of Peace): $196,759

• John Cavanagh (Institute for Policy Studies): $77,757

According to Simply Hired, the average think tank salary is $56,000.  According to SalaryList, the average salary at a think tank is $47,136.  According to Indeed, the average think tank salary is $66,000.

Here are some articles related to think tank salaries:

• New Republic: The Great Think Tank Bubble: Think Tank Salaries are Looking More and More Like Lobbyist Salaries.

• CFNC: A career as a think tank analyst is worth thinking about. 

• Politico: Think tank jobs a lucrative landing spot. 

• Houston Chronicle: How much would you make if you worked at a think tank?

Think Tank Watch is also keeping its eye on the National Think Tank Compensation Survey which is being administered by AKRON, Inc.  They are working with a steering committee from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), Brookings Institution, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), American Institutes for Research, and Population Council.

It is also worth noting that base pay of leaders at top think tanks is not wildly different from base pay of leaders at many top colleges and universities.  That said, some heads of top universities have a much higher total compensation than even the highest-paid think tank head.  Here is a look at executive compensation at public and private universities from The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Here is a useful link from The NonProfit Times which has, among other things, a chart of average base salary of non-profits by budget size.

Update: Here is an interesting thread about think tank salaries from the site Political Science Rumors.

And here is career guide from 80,000 Hours about working at a think tank, including the pros and cons of think tanking, and which think tanks are most promising to work for.

Transparify: Good Source of Think Tank Information

Transparify, a new initiative coordinated by think tank expert Hans Gutbrod, has some excellent resources for those digging deeply into the world of think tanks.

Most notably, the site has four annotated bibliographies on think tanks:

• Think Tank Transparency
• Think Tank Funding
• How Think Tanks Influence Policy
• Corporate Interests and Think Tanks

Here is Transparify's list of key players in the think tank world.

In early 2014, Transparify conducted the first-ever global rating of the financial transparency of major think tanks, and results will be released soon.

Transparify if funded by the Think Tank Fund of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), a grantmaking operation funded by George Soros.

Brookings Institution Caught in Pension Crossfire

The Brookings Institution is among the well-known nonprofits that receives money from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, a group created by a Texas billionaire and his wife that funds research on the fiscal health of public pensions.

Now, public employee unions, who say that the Foundation is trying to sway public opinion to support replacing public pensions, are taking aim at various entities, including think tanks, that have taken money from the Foundation.

Here is more from The Wall Street Journal:

Union groups are calling on the Washington-based Brookings Institution—which has taken more than $500,000 from the Arnold Foundation from 2012 through this year to produce research on pensions—to cut ties. Spokesman David Nassar said the think tank wouldn't return the grant money and said donors are forbidden from influencing any research.

Brookings scholars have received a research grant of $500,000 for work on "Reforming Public Employee Pensions," and Brookings held an event in February titled "Public Pension Reform: Questions of Politics and Policy."

The WSJ notes that the "confrontation has well-known nonprofits caught between multimillion-member unions and a foundation that is becoming an important voice on the pension issue."

The liberal advocacy group Institute for America's Future recently said that the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is part of an effort to dismantle public pensions.

Stay tuned for more updates...

Think Tank Quickies (#118)

• Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) makes first appearance ever at CSIS.
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) again says Wall Street should disclose its think tank contributions.
• The best free-market think tank conferences.
• Think tankers attend World Bank/IMF spring meeting in Washington, DC.
• Inomics Blog on top think tanks and social research institutes in the US.
• Brookings map: State of the global economy.
• Heritage Foundation now the Business Insider/HuffPo/Gawker/Buzzfeed of think tanks?
• Video via Thomas B. Fordham Institute (education policy think tank): "I'm just a lowly think tank executive."
• Acton Institute's Freedom Flash Drives.
• Brookings happiness/age chart.

Google Masters Think Tank Row

The Washington Post has a new piece about how Google has learned the influence game in Washington, including how to embrace its most powerful think tanks.

The think tanks (and lobbying arm of think tanks) that Google donates to include:

• Brookings Institution
• Aspen Institute
• Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
• New America Foundation (NAF)
• Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF)
• American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
• American Action Forum
• Mercatus Center
• Cato Institute
• R Street Institute
• Ripon Society
• Free State Foundation
• Heritage Foundation
• Heritage Action
• Center for a New American Security (CNAS)
• Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)

The Post piece details Google's embrace of Heritage and Cato, a conservative and libertarian think tank.  Here is what is said about the Google-Heritage relationship:

An early sign of Google’s new Washington attitude came in September 2011, when executives paid a visit to the Heritage Foundation, the stalwart conservative think tank that has long served as an intellectual hub on the right, to attend a weekly lunch for conservative bloggers...

In their visit to Heritage that day, Google officials were eager to make new friends. Their challenge was instantly clear.

“In 2008, your CEO campaigned for Barack Obama,” said Mike Gonzalez, Heritage’s vice president for communications, according to a video of the event. “. . . As a company, you’re really identified with this administration from the beginning. And you come here and you’re like a mix of Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek.”

Adam Kovacevich, then a member of Google’s policy team, responded by stressing the company’s interest in building new alliances.

The Google-Heritage relationship soon blossomed — with benefits for both.

A few weeks after the blogger session, Heritage researcher James L. Gattuso penned a critique of the antitrust investigation into Google, praising the company as “an American success story.”

That winter, Heritage joined the chorus of groups weighing in against the anti-piracy legislation. As the bill, the Stop Online Piracy Act, appeared to gain steam in the GOP-led House, Gattuso wrote a piece warning of “unintended negative consequences for the operation of the Internet and free speech.” The legislation, he said, could disrupt the growth of technology. Gattuso said he came to his position independently and was not lobbied by Google.

After Gattuso’s piece went live, Heritage Action, the think tank’s sister advocacy organization, quickly turned the argument into a political rallying cry. In terms aimed at tea party conservatives, the group cast the bill as “another government power grab.”

 As congressional offices were flooded with phone calls and e-mail protests, support for the legislation crumbled. Within days, both the House and Senate versions of the bill were shelved and Hill veterans were left marveling at the ability of Google and its allies to muster such a massive retail response.

For Google and Heritage, the legislative victory was the beginning of a close relationship. A few months later, Google Ideas and the Heritage Foundation co-hosted an event focused on the role the Internet could play in modernizing Cuba, featuring Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Google Ideas director Jared Cohen.

The following year, a new name popped up on Google’s list of groups it supports financially: Heritage Action.

Here is what the Post piece says about the Google-Cato relationship:

On a February night this year, Schmidt sat down with a Washington audience far friendlier than the panel of senators who had grilled him nearly three years earlier. Addressing a dinner of journalists and scholars at the libertarian Cato Institute, Schmidt received applause and lots of head-nodding as he declared, “We will not collaborate with the NSA.”

Cato was not always in sync with Google’s policy agenda. In previous years, the think tank’s bloggers and scholars had been sharply critical of the company’s support for government rules limiting the ways providers such as Comcast and Verizon could charge for Internet services.

But, like many institutions in Washington, Cato has since found common ground with Google.

And the think tank has benefited from the company’s investments, receiving $480,000 worth of in-kind “ad words” from Google last year, according to people familiar with the donation.

Here is an infographic from the Washington Post piece that allows one to explore Google's influence in Washington (including think tank funding) over time.

Google actually has its own think tank, called Google Ideas.  Here are the reasons you didn't know Google has its own think tank.

To update that Washington Post piece about Google's think tank, Google Ideas does indeed have its own website now.

Troubles Brewing at Top Think Tank SIPRI?

Trouble seems to be brewing at one of the world's top think tanks - Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

There are suggestions floating around that the work environment at the Stockholm, Sweden-based think tank is so bad that it could actually be closed. [SIPRI, founded in 1966, also has offices in Beijing and Washington, DC.]

This is from one post (Think Tank Watch could not immediately verify the authenticity of the content):

Many employees at peace research institute SIPRI are suffering from stress, sleeping problems, anxiety, high blood pressure and suicidal thoughts, according to [trade unions] ST and SACO-S [which organize around 85% of the employees at SIPRI.] The trade unions have therefore put the foundation under so called special protection measures.

"If the demands are not met, the workplace could be closed," said ST Press Secretary Sofia Johansson.

She states that the special protection measures involve demands for systematic efforts to improve the work environment, and to deal with specific identified problems.

According to the union, employees at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI, which employs about 50 people at its Solna office, have experienced degrading and discriminatory treatment, and there have been no improvements since the previous work environment survey.

Here is a letter from the Swedish trade union ST describing the situation in a bit more detail.  It says, among other things, that there have been 25 cases of staff turnover in the past year, out of a total of around 50 employees.  Some details:

ST and SACO-S organize around 85% of the employees at SIPRI. We have been contacted by the local elected officials about an unsustainable work environment situation that has gone on for the past year and has now escalated. We believe that the employer has breached its responsibility to carry out systematic Work Environment Work according to AFS 2001:01 and has not observed its rehabilitation responsibilities under the Social Insurance Code 2010110. Despite the fact that the employer has been aware of the problem they have not taken forward appropriate measures and the work environment has powerfully worsened.

We are deeply concerned about the work environment situation at SIPRI and demand today that Special Protective Measures be taken forward in accordance with Chapter 6 Section 6 of the Work Environment Law. This may also involve us closing the workplace since there is a danger to our members’ life and health. We would like to draw particular attention to the fact that there is more than one person at SIPRI with suicidal thoughts. This is alarming, and if it is not dealt with in a professional manner, we fear that it could become a bigger catastrophe than what happened in Krokom municipality.[1]

During a joint meeting with ST and SACO-S members on April 2nd, we carried out a simple work environment survey using a 12-question questionnaire. Our goal was to gain an understanding of how the work environment at SIPRI operates, and to try to understand the problems. Below is a summary of the results. There were 26 respondents to the survey.

- 16 of the 26 respondents states that they had experienced degrading or discriminatory treatment in various forms. Of these, 14 stated that the Director had behaved in an intimidating manner.

- 22 of the 26 respondents suffer from stress-related problems (manifesting itself in for example sleep problems, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, miscarriage, high blood pressure, pressure in the chest, and others). These cases are directly related to the Director’s treatment of staff

- 23 of the 26 choose to a great extent to work from home whenever possible because of the work environment at the workplace, rather than to take sick leave.

- 24 of the 25 have experienced no improvement since the last work environment survey, but rather the opposite.

- All 26 respondents are actively seeking other employment due to the work environment at SIPRI (some are ready to resign even if they don’t have a new job).

Of the 25 cases of staff turnover in the past year, out of around 50 total employees, several of the terminated employments can be directly linked to the Director’s actions.

The letter goes on to say that the director of SIPRI is the main source of the work environment problem at the think tank.

Think Tank Watch could not immediately identify the authenticity or content of the letter, which Think Tank Watch first saw thanks to the kind tip by think tank expert Hans Gutbrod.

SIPRI is probably most well-known for its annual SIPRI Yearbook which details armaments, disarmament, and international security issues.

SIPRI was just ranked as the 5th best think tank in the world by the annual University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.  It was also ranked as the 3rd best non-US think tank.

Sugar Baron Leans on Brookings to Influence US-Cuba Policy

Alfonso Fanjul, owner of the vast sugar and real estate conglomerate Fanjul Corp., wants to invest in Cuba and its sugar industry, and he has turned to the influential think tank Brookings Institution for help.

Here is more from the Washington Post:

Fanjul visited Cuba in April 2012 and again in February 2013 as part of a delegation licensed through the Brookings Institution, the Washington think tank that has produced recent papers criticizing U.S. policy and calling on the Obama administration to further loosen sanctions.

Fanjul’s Brookings-organized trips coincided with calls by President Raúl Castro to rapidly revive Cuba’s moribund sugar industry.  Fanjul said his visits were unrelated to Castro’s sugar initiative.

Fanjul joined the Brookings board this past July and has donated at least $200,000 to the think tank, which has hosted Cuban officials for panel discussions geared toward encouraging greater communication and loosened restrictions on doing business with Cuba. Ted Piccone, Brookings’ acting vice president and foreign policy program director, wrote an open memo to Obama last month urging him to use his executive authority to give direct aid to entrepreneurs on the island and expand travel licenses.

Here is the list of the Brookings Board of Trustees, of which Fanjul is a member.  His election to the Board was announced on July 19, 2013.

Here is a recent Brookings piece by Nonresident Senior Fellow Richard Feinberg on Cuba's new investment law.

Here is a link to a Brookings event from late 2012 titled "What Roles for Foreign Direct Investment in the New Cuban Economy."

For years, scholars at Brookings have argued that the "usefulness" of US's embargo on Cuba has run its course.

According to the latest University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings, Cuba has 18 think tanks.  A variety of other Caribbean islands have think tanks, including Antigua & Barbuda (2 think tanks), Bahamas (2), Dominica (3), Dominican Republic (28), Grenada (1), Jamaica (6), Martinique (2), Puerto Rico (5), St. Kitts-Nevis (1), St. Vincent & the Grenadines (1), and Trinidad & Tobago (10).

Think Tank Quickies (#117)

• Billionaire Tom Steyer: Starting a think tank network as big as that of the Koch brothers?
• WSJ: Michael Mandelbaum's new book on globalization focuses on "establishment view" of globalization, most frequently citing Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE).
• Senior Obama official on John Podesta: "He has the ball-breaking skills of Rahm Emanuel and the policy chops that come with running the Center for American Progress."
• WPost: While head of CAP, John Podesta urged White House officials to appoint a senior adviser to tackle climate change and energy policy.
• NYTimes on Jim DeMint shifting Heritage from policy to politics.
• The boom of think tanks in a changing Arab world.
• Salman Shaikh of Brookings: Think Tanks - A Social Good for the Global Community.
• Neoconservative think tank influences on US policy.
• James Carafano of Heritage Foundation: "When I come to work each day I don't think like I am part of a powerful think tank but a hungry start-up pushing the envelope."
• Bobby Jindal's "pocket think tank," America Next.

Think Tank Fact of the Day: CEIP Alumni

Think Tank Watch was reading through a Washington Post Magazine piece on United Nations (UN) Ambassador Samantha Power, and noticed a line saying that she was an intern at the think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP).

On its website, CEIP has a section titled "Notable Alumni," which includes Ms. Power.  [She reportedly got the position right after graduating from college.]  Others on CEIP's list include:

• Marcel Lettre, President Obama's Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence (PDUSDI).

• George Stephanopoulos, anchor on ABC's Good Morning America and This Week, and former Senior Adviser to President Bill Clinton.

• Brian Deese, Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the Obama Administration.

• Evan Medeiros, Senior Director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC).

CEIP was recently ranked as the 3rd best think tank in the world by the annual University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.  It was ranked as the 2nd best think tank in the United States, after the Brookings Institution.

2016 GOP Hopefuls Tap Think Tanks

As jockeying begins for the 2016 US presidential race, potential Republican candidates are quietly meeting with think tank experts to tap their knowledge, acquire future policy advisors, and gain an edge over their competitors.

Today, The Washington Post  details how a variety of Republican hopefuls are cozying up to think tanks.  Here is a look at which think tank experts potential candidates are talking to:

• Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) met Stephen Moore, Chief Economist at the Heritage Foundation, last Monday night at Washington's Capital Grille for a dinner that lasted four hours.

• Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) recently invited former Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Douglas Holtz-Eaken, President of American Action Forum, to his office.  Sen. Rubio regularly solicits advice from scholars at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).  Rubio says that AEI is the "primary organization" that he turns to.  He reportedly confers with AEI President Arthur Brooks and AEI columnist/blogger James Pethokoukis.  Heritage Foundation's Stephen Moore has also advised Rubio.  Yuval Levin, a Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, has apparently become friendly with Rubio.

• New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been consulting with Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) President Richard Haass.

• Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker met in California last year with scholars at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, including former White House economic adviser John B. Taylor and former Romney policy director Lanhee Chen.  Gov. Walker has also developed a bond with AEI Fellow Marc Thiessen.

• Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is close to Hudson Institute social policy analyst William Schambra.  In March, Rep. Ryan had dinner with Douglas Holtz-Eaken, President of American Action Forum.

• Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has received feedback about his health care plan from AEI Visiting Fellow Ramesh Ponnuru and Yuval Levin, Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.  Gov. Jindal also has been courting Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint.

• Texas Governor Rick Perry has been getting briefings from think tank experts.

• Heritage scholars, including national security specialist James Carafano and former Sen. Jim Talent have become a "faculty of sorts" for potential Republican candidates.

The Washington Post article does not mention it, but AEI President Arthur Brooks has a close relationship with Rep. Paul Ryan, as noted in a recent Think Tank Watch post.

American Enterprise Institute's Stock Continues to Rise

Another day, another positive story on American Enterprise Institute (AEI).  This time it is from a Newsweek piece written by Pema Levy titled "Arthur Brook's Push to Make the American Enterprise Institute - and Republicans - Relevant Again."

Here are some of Think Tank Watch's favorite passages:

• AEI is on the rise. Its influence is growing on Capitol Hill, where Brooks, a former musician and college professor, is now a sought-after counsel to Republicans like House Budget Committee chairman and presidential hopeful Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. Earlier this year, Brooks delivered the keynote address at both House and Senate GOP retreats.

• On Capitol Hill, that message [of "capitalism for the masses"] sounds very similar to the one preached by [Rep. Paul] Ryan, who plans to roll out a comprehensive antipoverty agenda this year. Ryan's office works closely with AEI and the two men are friends.

• Brooks rattles through the investments AEI has made in the past five years, including hiring over 60 new people. The new headquarters will have TV and radio studios and classrooms, as AEI ramps up its media presence and extends its reach to college campuses, paid for in part by a $20 million donation from billionaire Daniel A. D'Aniello, chairman of the private equity firm the Carlyle Group. "We've grown like crazy," Brooks says, before making the noise of an explosion.

• But in the free marketplace of ideas, as in all markets, it always helps when your competitors stumble. It's no coincidence that AEI's newfound popularity comes at a time of waning influence for another D.C. think tank, the Heritage Foundation.

• [Arthur] Brooks's model is aggressive outreach. AEI has made investments in its communications department and Capitol Hill outreach. The metrics by which you might calculate success-newspaper op-eds, scholars testifying before Congress-have gone up exponentially under Brooks.

• In some ways, [Arthur] Brooks is an unlikely conservative leader. He was raised in a liberal family in Seattle, and dropped out of college to spend his 20s as a professional French hornist, including several years in the Barcelona city orchestra.

 Here is what the article says about other conservative think tanks besides AEI and Heritage:

In the conservative ecosystem, heavyweight institutions funded by rich donors (AEI has about 1,200) compete. Among them is the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., where Republican stars like former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are fellows.

There's the Manhattan Institute, a conservative outpost in liberal New York City, the Hudson Institute in D.C., mostly focusing on national security and foreign policy, and the Ethics and Public Policy Center that punches above its weight when it comes to influence. And there is the Cato Foundation, a libertarian think tank, which has blossomed since that philosophy became more in vogue among Republicans.

Here is a recent Think Tank Watch piece titled "AEI President's Powerful Friends," which focuses on Arthur Brooks's strong relationship with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA).

AEI was just ranked as the 24th best think tank in the world by the annual University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.  It was also ranked as the 11th best think tank in the US.

Think Tank Quickies (#116)

• Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) spoke at Claremont Institute's annual Winston Churchill dinner at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
• CAP Senior Fellow Matt Miller on why he's running for Congress.
• Jon Lieber, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's tax and economic adviser, and former researcher at AEI, joins startup Thumbtack to connect consumers and service providers.
• Washington Post on CAP: The [Obama] Administration's "off-campus think tank."
• Open letter organized by Economic Policy Institute (EPI) signed by dozens of top economists calling for higher minimum wage.
• Aspen Institute president Walter Isaacson inducted into Alfalfa Club as newest "sprout."
• Karen Dynan of Brookings still waiting to be confirmed as Assistant Secretary of Treasury (hearing held January 30, 2014).
• Accused mastermind behind the "Silk Road" Ross Ulbricht (i.e., Dread Pirate Roberts) has fondness for the Ludwig von Mises Institute, a paleolibertarian think tank.
• CAP's ThinkProgress highlights climate change impact with post on Chipotle guacamole price increase. 
• Fact of the day: The term "Super Zips" was coined by AEI scholar/author Charles Murray.  It describes the country's most prosperous, highly educated demographic cluster.