based, oligopoly-dominated economy. It does not have been subject to significant budget shortfalls,
fully capture the major structural changes of the past with appropriations flat or declining for almost
several decades, including the enormous growth of every one.
service industries; la rge-scale technological inno- As a result, the nation has achieved trivial savings
vation; geographic mobility, increased trade, and in exchange for inadequate data at a time when good
global competition; entrepreneurship; corporate data are sorely needed to guide economic recovery
restructuring (e.g., mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs, (and in the context of unplanned appropriations
outsourcing, failures); and the extensive transforma- of more than $1 trillion for recovery purposes).
tion of regional economies. Consider the following:
In addition, the statistics system is not taking
full advantage of remarkable advances in infor- —BLS has not updated the CPI using the 2000
mation technology and statistical methods (e.g., Census for want of $10 million.
synthetic data). These advances offer agencies
once undreamed-of opportunities to create data —BLS must “borrow” $10 million from the U.S.
series that reveal the workings of the nation’s economy Census Bureau to stave off cutting the sample size
in breadth, depth, and detail (e.g., tracking dramatically of the Current Population Survey,
business openings and closings, worker hires and the primary source for employment and unem-
fires, and worker flows from job to job by industry ployment figures.
and location).
—The U.S. Census Bureau needs $8 million to pro-
Limitations of Existing Federal Policy
vide full coverage of the nation’s service industries.
The primary reason for the deteriorating economic
statistics system is inadequate funding. A secondary
—BEA will cut metro and county gross domestic
reason is the absence of a strong set of relationships
product and earnings detail by industry to save
between statistics agencies and data users other than
$1 million.
macroeconomic policymakers.
At an annual cost of less than $1.3 billion to guide
—The Federal Reserve will save only $8 million by
the workings of a $14 trillion economy and the geo-
eliminating the SSBF.
graphic distribution of more than $500 billion in
federal funds, the economic statistics system is one of
—The NHTS national survey could not have been
the federal government’s most cost-effective activities.
conducted had the AARP not contributed $500,000
Essentially, the cost of the system is extraordinarily
to cover the budget shortfall.
low, and the return on investment is almost infinite.
Despite this, federal economic statistics agencies
—The U.S. Census Bureau’s Local Employment
Dynamics program, which has the potential to
transform our understanding of how the economy
works, has limped along for years on a $2 million
appropriation when it needs $12 million to achieve
its potential.
JSM Congressional Visits
To take advantage of this year’s JSM
A number of factors, including the following,
being held in our nation’s capital, the ASA
contribute to this troubling situation:
science policy office invites ASA members
—Budget decisionmakers in parent departments—
to visit the offices of their congressional
Office of Management and Budget (OMB)—and
representatives during the last day of JSM,
congressional appropriations committees do not
Thursday, August 6, 2009. Participants will
recognize the enormous return to the nation on
be prepped during JSM on Wednesday
small taxpayer investments in statistics.
evening and Thursday morning and shown
how to conduct successful meetings with —In the decentralized statistics system, statistical
Capitol Hill staffers. Participants also will be
activities are relatively small parts of multi-billion
provided with materials that will explain to
dollar budgets and, therefore, overlooked. No bud-
staffers how they can support ASA requests.
get decisionmaker has responsibility for the statistics
Our goal is to conduct 4-5 meetings for
system as a whole.
each state’s group. Watch this space for
—Macroeconomic policymakers have not made it a
instructions about how to sign up.
priority to advocate for adequate funding to improve
traditional economic statistics.
34 AMSTAT NEWS MARCH 2009
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