The Urban Institute is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank that conducts economic and social policy research to "open minds, shape decisions, and offer solutions".

Alexander Conference for Economics and Related Fields with The Sadie Collective in Washington, D.C.[7][8] The Urban Institute was established in 1968 by the Lyndon B. Johnson administration to study the nation's urban problems and evaluate the Great Society initiatives embodied in more than 400 laws passed in the prior four years.

[17] Sarah Rosen Wartell, a public policy executive and housing markets expert, became the third president of the Urban Institute in February 2012.

[19] As of 2022,[update] the board members were: Jamie S. Gorelick (chair), N. Gregory Mankiw (vice chair), Annette L. Nazareth (vice chair), Anthony A. Williams (vice chair), J. Adam Abram, Kenneth Bacon, Karan Bhatia, Stacy Brown-Philpot, Mary C. Daly, Shaun Donovan, Diana Farrell, Margaret A. Hamburg, Bill Haslam, Antonia Hernndez, Heather Higginbottom, W. Matthew Kelly, Mary J. Miller, Michael A. Nutter, Eduardo Padrón, Charles H. Ramsey, John Wallis Rowe, Arthur I. Segel, J. Ron Terwilliger, Ashley Swearengin, David A. Thomas, Sarah Rosen Wartell.

[6] A 2005 study of media bias in The Quarterly Journal of Economics ranked UI as the 11th most liberal of the 50 most-cited think tanks and policy groups, placing it between the NAACP and the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals.

[21] According to a study by U.S. News & World Report most political campaign donations by Urban Institute employees go to Democratic politicians.