Think tanks, usually not so much in the focus of public attention, but even more active behind the scenes are organizations dealing with political and/or public policy issues. Mostly labeled as independent (research) institutes, they differ from pure academia in that the research that is conducted is channeled towards certain fairly specific purposes.
Some think tanks are affiliated with universities, while also governments run think tanks. Within the private think tanks, most widely known are the ideological think tanks. These organizations aim to shape public opinion and government policy over a wide range of issues so as to advance the political ideologies or approaches to public policy making which are supported by their members.
Especially the research of ideologically motivated think tanks sometimes is of questionable scholarly value and their policy prescriptions are politically motivated. The problem is compounded by links between think tanks and the media from which both parties benefit or influenced by corporate and other donors, which preclude critical assessment of the quality and objectivity of think tank research.
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In the 1930s John Maynard Keynes formulated the theory of income determination. He was interested in the level of national income and the volume of employment rather than in the equilibrium of the firm or the allocation of resources. Typical aspects of Keynsianism are: Government management of the wage, the welfare state and "development". Popular until the 1960s Keynsianism was thereafter widely replaced by neoliberalism.