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The crisis in state and local government statistics.

Article Excerpt
Robust statistical systems produce products that are important to understanding the changing state of the economy and to formulating sound policy. But statistical systems, like physical infrastructures, become obsolete or depreciate with time if they are not maintained.

--Economic Report of the President, February 2008

INTRODUCTION

In January 2006, the Committee on National Statistics of the National Academies initiated the first-ever external review of the work of the Governments Division of the U.S. Census Bureau. After more than one and a half years of hearings, investigations, and deliberations, the interdisciplinary eight-member panel (1) issued its findings under what it hoped would be a provocative and compelling title: State and Local Government Statistics at a Crossroads. (2)

One path for the Census Bureau, the panel concluded, would be to cut back further on the quantity and quality of data on state and local governments. As documented in the report, various curtailments have occurred since the 1988 demise of General Revenue Sharing, which had required the Governments Division to collect data on state and local taxes in order to determine allocations of federal funds to subnational governments. The other path would entail planning for improvements in survey efficiency; building the user base; enhancing the timeliness, relevance, and quality of data; and adding back valuable explanatory material and other assistance to users of Governments Division products. As between these two paths, the panel "strongly support[ed the second path,] moving forward in a positive direction, which [would] require the unstinting support of senior Census Bureau management."

Throughout their lengthy discussions, members of the committee struggled with how to reconcile competing objectives. On the one hand, panel members wanted their work to result in improved information on state and local government activities. On the other hand, they needed to heed Census officials' warnings that counting on budgetary largesse for federal statistical programs was a nonstarter. In the end, the panel called for the Census Bureau to develop a two-track strategic plan. This new approach would prioritize the steps that Census Bureau management would undertake if its resources continued to be constrained, or if, instead, it saw opportunities to develop its programs. The report argued that deliberate planning would represent an improvement over what struck panel members as a history of reactive responses. Moreover, the document called on Census Bureau leadership to make available the resources needed to begin implementing one or two aspects of the plans for improved information on state and local governments....

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