How and why and what is a think tank…
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If it’s a scientific (or at least sort-of-scientific) subject at a university, there are think tanks devoted to that subject. In general, they provide consulting on very custom and specific topics, to the point that someone is willing to pay for specialized research.
Sometimes, my role is as a research associate for a group which could be called a ‘think tank’. The firm is a group of college professors, mostly economics and business folks, some other specialties (statistics, computer science, or similar).
A good deal of our work is for litigation. So there is a lawsuit, and we are asked to present evidence on the economic impact of a particular topic. The first case I worked on was to value a specific piece of intellectual property which involved infrared readers on ‘palm pilots’.
Another was examining how long it would take for a charitable foundation to run out of money under various required payout systems. We were asked by some sort of finance company to examine the financials of a chain of gas stations – could the company have made more from their convenience stores, if they lowered the price of their fuel (Answer: Probably!)
A case I didn’t work on was something having to do with the impact of big-old power lines on nearby property values or something like that.
There are other think-tanks that might do civil engineering problems (how should building codes change to allow more affordable housing, but also avoid overcrowding), or maybe environmental issues (would power generators using ocean current help global warming, or just mess with fragile ecosystems).
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