Conflicts of interest appear at think-tanks

Washington

AS Lennar Corp, one of the nation's largest homebuilders, pushed ahead with an US$8 billion plan to revitalise a barren swathe of San Francisco, it found a trusted voice to vouch for its work: the Brookings Institution, the most prestigious think-tank in the world.

"This can become a productive, mutually beneficial relationship," Bruce Katz, a Brookings vice-president, wrote to Lennar in July 2010. The ultimate benefit for Brookings: US$400,000 in donations from Lennar's different divisions.