The following is a list of some of the more prominent “think tanks” or policy research institutes nationally. By listing them neither the Center for Policy Studies nor Case Western Reserve University is implying any sort of endorsement of the products of any particular organization. Users must judge for themselves. Members of the Case Western Reserve community can access library databases such as National Journal and CQ online from the Kelvin Smith Library’s catalog of databases.
Think Tanks
There are many institutions in the United States that might be called “think tanks,” meaning they at least claim to offer research which can inform policy choice. The boundaries between research institutions and interest groups or advocacy organizations can be hard to discern. At a minimum, some organizations do a lot more pieces that are presented as research than others do, though what is presented as research may be deceptive.
“Think tanks” may be more general or more specialized. The list that follows does not include organizations that
specialize in a specific type of domestic policy. Examples of very informative organizations of this type, which
sponsor a lot of research, include the Kaiser Family Foundation and The Commonwealth Fund. Both can be primary
resources for scholars of health policy. For an overview of the Think Tank world, including lists of organizations around
the world, see http://www.fpri.org/research/thinktanks/GlobalGoToThinkTanks2011.pdf
The list of U.S. national think tanks that follows begins with the organizations studied in Andrew Rich, Think Tanks, Public Policy, and the Politics of Expertise. New York, Cambridge University Press, 2004. We have added a few others that are listed in the top 50 in the United States in the source above. We have not included university-based research centers. This listing does not constitute an endorsement of any particular source.
American Enterprise Institute
Brookings Institution
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Carter Center
Cato Institute
Center for American Progress
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Center for National Policy
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Council on Foreign Relations
Economic Policy Institute
Economic Strategy Institute
Heritage Foundation
Hoover Institution
Hudson Institute
Institute for Policy Studies
Joint Center for Political & Economic Studies
Manhattan Institute
National Bureau of Economic Research
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Progressive Policy Institute
RAND Corporation
Reason Foundation
Resources for the Future
Urban Institute
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
World Resources Institute
Worldwatch Institute
Public Opinion and Elections
Annenberg Public Policy Center
Campaigns and Elections – Congressional Quarterly
Federal Election Commission (FEC)
Gallup
National Election Studies
National Institute on Money in State Politics
National Opinion Research Center
OpenSecrets.org
People and the Press
Pew Center For Civic Journalism
Pew Research Center
PollsandVotes.com
Project Vote Smart
Real Clear Politics
Roper Center
Statistical Modeling, Casual Inference, and Social Science
University at California at Berkeley – Survey Documentation and Analysis
U.S. Presidential Election Maps
Voter Information Services (VIS)
YouGov
Government Data
Among the most prominent sources of information about U.S. government are the analytic agencies of the United States Congress:
The Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress serves as a resource to members of Congress and their staff. CRS does not automatically post its reports online, but the link will take you to OpenCRS, which posts many of them.
U.S. Government Accountability Office
International Data
International Monetary Fund
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
The World Bank
United Nations Statistics Division