Think-tanks' flimsier finances make them easy prey too and they are more immediately influential than universities.

ECONOMIST: Reputation management

Over the past 50 years conservatives have created a network of institutions from think-tanks to local pressure groups that have succeeded in pushing the Republican Party to the right.

ECONOMIST: George Bush

With China so engaged in the global economy, there is a never-ending stream of data, often unreliable, to feed the appetites of economic-research firms, investment banks, hedge funds, short-sellers, political-risk advisers, think-tanks, consultancies and financial and military newsletters not to mention legions of academics, journalists, diplomats and spies.

ECONOMIST: Banyan