Murray Weidenbaum has been a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a speaker at meetings at the Brookings Institution, the Cato Institute, and the Heritage Foundation and has also written for their publications, and served as a reviewer of ongoing studies. In The Competition of Ideas , Weidenbaum examines the political economy of these vital institutions, drawing heavily on several decades of involvement in their activities. He is uniquely able to see their accomplishments as well as their shortcomings.

Because of the importance of the activities of their organizations, and their tax-exempt status, think tanks are held to a high standard. Weidenbaum shows that sometimes think tanks are more tank than think—major think tanks are often predictable in the positions they take on public issues and are far better at analyzing the shortcomings of other elements of society than of their own operations. The overarching issue of quality control, Weidenbaum holds, deserves more attention than it has attained in the think tank world.

This book presents a careful, balanced account of where think tanks have been and where thay are now headed. Given the high levels of professionalism in many think tanks, a fundamental change in the attitude of their management is important. The compelling need is less for the wielder of policy than for the lucid synthesizer of relevant research and analysis. Likewise, society needs sensitivity to the long-term concerns of the citizenry more urgently than rapid response to the opportunities of the moment. Future competition, particularly among the major think tanks, could well be centered, not on achieving greater visibility, but on developing responses to economic, environmental, and national security problems that are likely to be adopted and carried out.

Murray Weidenbaum is Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor of Economics at Washington University in St. Louis and Honorary Chairman of the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government and Public Policy. He was the first chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to Ronald Reagan and also served as a member of Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board. He is the author of numerous books including Business and Government in the Global Marketplace, One-Armed Economist (Transaction), and The Bamboo Network.

“The Competition of Ideas is a fair-minded and well-informed comparative assessment of a vital but oft-misunderstood Washington institution—the major public policy think-tanks. The book offers a perceptive and cogent explanation of the internal workings, intricate inter-relationships, finances, and effectiveness of five key private research and advocacy centers that span the political spectrum. Dr. Weidenbaum is ideally equipped for this task. His extensive experience ranges across service as a senior White House economic advisor, participation in many think-tank initiatives, and “beyond-the-beltway” academic as well as business positions. He thus is an outsider who understands the Washington insider. The result is an intriguing and useful guide to think-tanks whose public policy influence is both potent and controversial.”
Thomas D. Hopkins, professor of economics, Rochester Institute of Technology

"A fair-minded assessment by a seasoned economist and former policy maker showing that think tanks in Washington are much less political or business-dominated than the public thinks yet could do more joint studies to find common ground and upgrade the public discourse even further."
Henry Nau, professor of political science and international affairs, George Washington University

“Murray Weidenbaum’s book on Washington think tanks (what they do, how and why) is richly documented and very valuable. It provides solid scholarship and a good advice on a subject that needs both.”
Richard P. Nathan, co-director, Rockefeller Institute of Government