Wonks for Hire

Elizabeth Warren challenged a think tank over iffy, industry-backed research. There’s a lot more where that came from.

By Helaine Olen

This week, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren took her battle against the seemingly limitless power of the financial services industry to that shadowy place where business interests, politics, and academics mingle.

Washington is still in recovery mode.

The target of Warren’s ire was policy wonk and economist Robert Litan, a former Clinton administration official and—until earlier this week—something called a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.