Ideas versus Expertise: Think Tanks and the Organizations of Information in American Policymaking.

The volume and variety of ideas and accompanying policy research available to members of Congress and executive branch officials are enormous and have grown tremendously in the past thirty-five years. For all of the resources invested in the production of this work, there is remarkably little evidence of how it is used by policymakers to inspire, formulate, or improve the content of public policy (Shulock 1999, Rich and Weaver 1998, Whiteman 1985, 1995). It is well established that expertise can be influential in agenda-setting (Kingdon 1995, Baumgartner and Jones 1993) and that ideas can inform the direction of policy change (Derthick and Quirk 1985, Hall 1989, Campbell 2004). But how does that happen? And what are the differences between ideas and expertise - and among the types of expertise and ideas made available to policymakers? In this paper, I examine how public policy think tanks package and present their ideas and research to inform - and influence - policymakers. I analyze, in particular, how the greatly expanded number of nonprofit think tanks have deliberately organized in ways to cater to demands from policymakers for supportive rather than original material. Aggressive marketing strategies have become dominant across the range of organizations involved in providing research in national policymaking (Rich 2004). And a tension has developed between the provision of ideas versus expertise by think tanks (Rich 2005).The analysis draws on new data from a national survey of think tank leaders who take different approaches to producing and promoting their work. I combine these findings with qualitative findings from 65 new interviews with those at research organizations and those that support them at private foundations and within government. A major portion of the paper explores the relationships between funders and researchers - and the effects of these relationships on how think tanks seek to promote ideas and expertise in American policymaking. The paper reveals a diversity of strategies for how ideas - and expertise - achieve traction in policymaking. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]