The main function of think tanks is to do policy research, which is provided to the executive and legislative branches of government for reference. In addition, the academic manpower they house is an important source of top government officials when there is a change of administration, so that think tanks have also been called "revolving doors" between government and academia.
智庫主要功能在於政策研究，提供政府與立法機構參考，而豐富的學術人力資源也是新舊政府交替時最大的政務官供應來源，故有人才「旋轉門」之稱。