1. INFO 4470/ILRLE 4470 Social and Economic Data Federal Data Providers John M. Abowd and Lars Vilhuber January 31, 2011

2. What costs $6.8 billion ($12.4 billion last year) and produces lots of data? Statistical Agencies of the U.S. Government

3. Who rides herd over this multi- billion dollar enterprise? Office for Management and Budget (OMB)

4. Where can I find out more about all these agencies? www.fedstats.gov

5. Should the federal government spend that much money for data? Let’s Ask Peter Orszag, Former Director of OMB

6. The share of budget resources spent on supporting Federal statistics is relatively modest—about 0.02 percent of GDP in non-Census years and roughly double that in Census years— but that funding is leveraged to inform crucial decisions in a wide variety of spheres. Federal data are used to drive and measure activities ranging from shaping monetary policy at the Federal Reserve (the Federal Reserve relies on employment and price change data as well as other economic indicators to set monetary policy) to influencing program design and allocation mechanisms (many Federal programs rely on data such as population estimates, the Consumer Price Index, and Federal poverty thresholds) to informing the economic and risk-assessment research used in regulatory policy and benefit-cost analyses. Peter R. Orszag, Director Office of Management and Budget (2009)

8. Agencies of Interest ?

9. OMB Executive Branch—access from WhiteHouse.govWhiteHouse.gov OMB's predominant mission is to assist the President in overseeing the preparation of the federal budget and to supervise its administration in Executive Branch agencies.

10. OMB Statistical Programs and Standards Budget process for statistical agencies Confidentiality policy Release of economic indicators Classification of: Industry Occupation Metropolitan and micropolitan areas Persons by race and ethnicity

11. The Big Three

12. Census of Population and Housing Important Points in Budget Apportion seats in House of Representatives Define boundaries of elections districts Appropriate federal monies Replace Long-Form with ACS Reduce respondent burden Continuous flow of data