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Just read through the AEA letter to the new administration about federal statistical integrity. Here's a thread that itemizes the eight points they make (with some comments from me):
Their letter
https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=13507
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Their letter
https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=13507
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What are the statistical agencies?
https://nces.ed.gov/FCSM/agencies.asp
Acronym roll, plz!!!!
BEA, BJS, BLS, BTS, ERS, NASS, NCES, NCHS, NCSES, ORES, SOI, Census, EIA
These cover labor, transportation, ed, health, income, food, energy.
My quick take: We need one for housing/shelter.
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https://nces.ed.gov/FCSM/agencies.asp
Acronym roll, plz!!!!
BEA, BJS, BLS, BTS, ERS, NASS, NCES, NCHS, NCSES, ORES, SOI, Census, EIA
These cover labor, transportation, ed, health, income, food, energy.
My quick take: We need one for housing/shelter.
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Rec 1. Act to prevent the politicization of federal statistics.
They recommend legislation that would put into law what are currently directives (and therefore a norm only). They also recommend making the head of the statistical agencies career staff.
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They recommend legislation that would put into law what are currently directives (and therefore a norm only). They also recommend making the head of the statistical agencies career staff.
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Rec 2. Elevate the role of the Chief Statistician of the U.S.
They recommend a career position with a dedicated staff, a deputy, and more authority.
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They recommend a career position with a dedicated staff, a deputy, and more authority.
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Rec 3. Adopt the rec's from the U.S. Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking.
This would increase access to data for researchers while maintaining privacy. Here's a background:
https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/fact-sheet-foundations-for-evidence-based-policymaking-act/
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This would increase access to data for researchers while maintaining privacy. Here's a background:
https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/fact-sheet-foundations-for-evidence-based-policymaking-act/
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Rec 4. Propose and approve new ways of making standard statistical protocols nimbler, such as coordinating with FEMA to establish "statistically valid emergency survey protocols."
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^I thought this was weak. The Census Bureau needs a new directorate dedicated solely to data collection during disasters. It needs permanent funding, broad authority, and lots of flexibility to "activate" existing data collection architecture in affected localities.
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Rec 5. The government needs to facilitate the involvement of the private sector in statistics.
This lawsuit-protected data would be available for research, and all data-sharing agreements would be negotiated by a federal statistical institution.
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This lawsuit-protected data would be available for research, and all data-sharing agreements would be negotiated by a federal statistical institution.
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^
Yes to this. I love the innovations that researchers are making in private datasets but dislike that they are walled off to other researchers. This really entrenches elitism among schools and graduate students who have access to them.
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Yes to this. I love the innovations that researchers are making in private datasets but dislike that they are walled off to other researchers. This really entrenches elitism among schools and graduate students who have access to them.
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Rec 6. Broker an agreement with states so that the federal government can access state data, like unemployment insurance records or SNAP beneficiary information.
Bonus rec: BLS needs to run a research program using UI data on economic indicators
^
yes,plz.
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Bonus rec: BLS needs to run a research program using UI data on economic indicators
^
yes,plz.10/
Rec 7. Harmonize data and sharing among the decentralized statistical agencies, and fund a National Academies study to consider creating a single statistical agency, Statistics USA.
^Weak name, imho.
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^Weak name, imho.
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Rec 8. BLS, BEA, and Census need to upgrade and modernize the current economic indicators, in terms of both timeliness and granularity.
Let them be creative, coordinated, and flexible in what indicators they can develop.
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Let them be creative, coordinated, and flexible in what indicators they can develop.
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Rec 9. Restore the integrity of the Economic Research Service.
Roughly 75% of the agency resigned when it was relocated from D.C. to Kansas City, over the strong (and legal) objections of the staff, and two years later they haven't recovered.
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Roughly 75% of the agency resigned when it was relocated from D.C. to Kansas City, over the strong (and legal) objections of the staff, and two years later they haven't recovered.
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Although one falls short in my mind, these are excellent recommendations. Some of them are easy wins, like allowing data sharing between states and the feds, and some could truly change the way we track recessions in real time.
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