Washington think tanks had better start thinking harder-and fast.

• Author: Weidenbaum, Murray
• Position: National Affairs

THE MAJOR independent Washington, D.C.-based think tanks constitute a vital, but poorly understood, component of the public policy process. Public understanding of these important organizations needs to be raised--and their effectiveness enhanced. In a nutshell, think tanks am less influential than they like to portray themselves in their reports to supporters, but much more influential in public policy formation than many agnostic academics are prone to admit. More formally, the "tanks" often are referred to as public policy research institutes. The Italy independent one--those not affiliated with a government agency, business firm, or even a university-will be the focus here.

Essential to enhancing their long-term effectiveness is for the think tanks to focus, not on advancing any specific cause, but to help reconcile the many vital and competing interests of society. After all, good public policy is arrived at not by the uncritical adoption of the positions of any self-proclaimed "white hat," but by the competitive give-and-take among the various interest groups in the marketplace of ideas.

The think tank "marketplace" is very open and fluid. There is a continuous ebb and flow of ideas, people, and influence in the Washington policy community. Individuals move from a think tank to a government position and return to the think tank world, although not necessarily to the public policy organization with which they previously were affiliated. On occasion, researchers and analysts move from one think tank to another. These organizations am anything but static in their operations, effectiveness, or market position.

The differentiation of think tanks from universities is substantial. To cite the obvious, universities am geared to the education of students; think tanks focus on influencing public policy. At a more general level of abstraction, universities and think tanks sham a common fundamental objective. Philosopher Alfred North Whitehead wrote, "The task of the university is the creation of the future." In that spirit, think tanks and universities may represent a division of labor in a grand effort to achieve a common objective.

Thus, it is with a combination of sadness and reluctance that I note the surprisingly limited role of the Washington think tanks in responding to the difficult and challenging policy environment of the last several years. It may not he too harsh to contend that they muffed an important opportunity to influence the...