As a policy analyst and legislative aide to a city councilman in Washington, Jonathon Kass habitually studies issues from all angles.
"Gay marriage ballot measures are not the best measure," said Patrick J. Egan, a political scientist at New York University who studies issues surrounding gay politicians.
To some degree, the disparity in financing reflects a historical reluctance by Congress to expand the judiciary, said Eric E. Sterling, president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, a Washington group that studies issues like drug policy.
Who finances these efforts is "a big question that no one knows the answer to," said another recipient, Taner Edis, a physicist at Truman State University in Missouri who studies issues of science and religion, particularly Islam.
"It is very irrational," said Pande Lazarevski, a Macedonian who is director of the Institute for Sociological, Political and Juridical Research, a private group in the capital, Skopje, that studies issues.
Steven Radelet, an economist at the Center for Global Development, which studies issues affecting developing countries, said such a change would more clearly reflect the rise of Asian economies in recent decades, as well as Europe's reduced economic impact.
