This study used the provincial panel data on policy adoption rate of university-affiliated think tanks in China from 2005 to 2017 and built a fixed effects model to explore the impact of the policy adoption rate of university-affiliated think tanks on China's economic growth. The results indicated that China's university-affiliated think tanks developed rapidly and the quality of policy advice improved significantly, but obvious regional imbalance existed. The policy adoption rate of university-affiliated think tanks can significantly affect China's economic growth. The impact was significant in the eastern developed region and western underdeveloped region but not in the moderately developed region in central China. The impact was significant in both the southern developed region and northern underdeveloped region, while the impact in the south was more significant than this in the north. Besides, the policy adoption rate of university-affiliated think tanks had obvious time effect on China's economic growth. As time went by, the effect became stronger, which was significant in eastern and central China but not in the western region. The enhancement of effect was significant in both the southern and northern regions, while the enhancement in the south was higher than this in the north.