# Brookings Institution The most influential think tank in the world by most measures — most-cited in media, most-consulted by policymakers, largest budget among policy research organizations. Founded in 1916, Brookings defines what counts as "mainstream expert opinion" in American policy debates. Its positions are what cable news anchors cite as "what the experts say." Brookings claims nonpartisan status and maintains scholars across the political spectrum. In practice, its policy output aligns more closely with the Democratic establishment and bipartisan centrist consensus than with either progressive or conservative positions — making it the intellectual home of the "reasonable center" that both populist left and populist right attack. ## Scale and Influence - **Budget:** ~$100-120M annually — the largest think tank by research budget - **Founded:** 1916 — the oldest major policy research institution - **Scholars:** 200+ resident and nonresident fellows - **Citation dominance:** Consistently ranked #1 in global think tank indices (University of Pennsylvania's TTCSP Global Go To Think Tank Index) - **Output:** Thousands of reports, policy briefs, and books annually ## Key Research Areas - **Economic Studies:** Fiscal policy, inequality, trade, regulation. The Hamilton Project (Robert Rubin-founded) represents the center-left economic policy establishment - **Foreign Policy:** The Brookings standard is what bipartisan foreign policy consensus looks like - **Governance Studies:** Election reform, congressional procedure, executive power - **Metropolitan Policy:** Urban economics, housing, infrastructure - **Global Economy and Development:** International development, global governance - **Tax Policy Center** (joint with Urban Institute): The authoritative source for distributional tax analysis ## Personnel Pipeline Brookings operates a two-way revolving door with Democratic (and some Republican) administrations: - **Susan Rice** — Brookings fellow → Obama National Security Advisor → Biden Domestic Policy Advisor - **Jason Furman** — Brookings → Obama CEA Chair → Brookings - **Bruce Riedel** — CIA → Brookings → Obama Af-Pak policy review → Brookings - Numerous others cycle between Brookings fellowships and government positions This revolving door is Brookings' primary influence mechanism: its scholars don't just write policy papers, they *implement* them when their party holds power, then return to refine the next round. ## Foreign Funding Controversy Brookings has disclosed significant funding from foreign governments: - **[[Qatar]]:** $14.8M+ (2013-2020), generating scrutiny over whether Qatar's funding influenced Brookings' Middle East research - **Norway, Sweden, UK, Japan:** Additional foreign government funders - A 2014 NYT investigation found that foreign-funded Brookings scholars had produced research aligned with donor-government interests Brookings implemented a transparency policy requiring disclosure of foreign government funding — more than most right-wing tanks offer — but the Qatar relationship remains a reference point for debates about think tank independence. ## The "Nonpartisan" Question Brookings' nonpartisanship is real in the sense that it employs scholars with diverse views and does not take institutional policy positions. It is misleading in the sense that its *center of gravity* — the median Brookings policy recommendation — aligns with Democratic establishment positions: multilateral foreign policy, Keynesian-influenced economics, regulatory approaches to market failures, and incremental reform rather than structural change. This makes Brookings the most powerful institution in defining what counts as "reasonable" — and therefore what counts as "extreme." Positions to Brookings' left (Medicare for All, defund the police) and positions to Brookings' right (deport all undocumented immigrants, abolish the administrative state) are both defined as outside the mainstream partly by their distance from the Brookings consensus. ## See Also - [[Council on Foreign Relations]] — Complementary establishment foreign policy institution - [[RAND Corporation]] — Complementary defense/security research - [[Heritage Foundation]] — Right-wing counterpart - [[Center for American Progress]] — Left-of-Brookings progressive policy shop - [[Think Tank Ecosystem]] — Full think tank landscape