INFO 7470Overview of the

Federal Statistical System

John M. Abowd and Lars VilhuberFebruary 1, 2016

© John M. Abowd and Lars Vilhuber 2016, all rights reserved

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Principal Statistical Agencies (13) and Recognized Units (OMB)• Office of Management and Budget• Bureau of Economic Analysis

(Commerce)• Bureau of Justice Statistics (Justice)• Bureau of Labor Statistics (Labor)• Bureau of Transportation Statistics

(Transportation)• Census Bureau (Commerce)• Economic Research Service (Agriculture)• Energy Information Administration

(Energy)• National Agricultural Statistical Service

(Agriculture)• National Center for Education Statistics

(Education)

• National Center for Health Statistics (HHS)

• National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NSF)

• Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics (Social Security Administration)

• Statistics of Income Division (Treasury)• Microeconomic Surveys Unit (Federal

Reserve Board of Directors)• Center for Behavioral Health Statistics

and Quality, Substance Abuse and Mental Heath Services Administration (HHS)

• National Animal Health Monitoring System (Agriculture

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© John M. Abowd and Lars Vilhuber 2016, all rights reserved

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Role of OMB

• The Office of Management and Budget, Statistical and Science Policy Office oversees the regulatory and budgeting environment

• Home of the Chief Statistician of the United States (currently Katherine Wallman, see interview in readings)

• Budgets for all of the statistical agencies are reviewed by OMB

• Regulations for reporting of Race, Ethnicity, Industry, Geography

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© John M. Abowd and Lars Vilhuber 2016, all rights reserved

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Budgets

• URL https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/information_and_regulatory_affairs/statistical-programs-2016.pdf (very slow to load)

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The Committee on National Statistics• Standing Committee of the National

Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine

• Funded by the Principal Statistical Agencies, and other sources

• Conducts consensus panels, workshop panels, and other studies in support of the federal statistical system

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© John M. Abowd and Lars Vilhuber 2016, all rights reserved

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Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology• Founded by the Statistical and Science Policy

Branch in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OMB)

• Members from the principal statistical agencies

• Informs and advices the OMB and the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy

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© John M. Abowd and Lars Vilhuber 2016, all rights reserved

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Other Advisory Committees

• Statistical agency advisory committees are regulated by the Federal Advisory Committee Act (public meetings, objective advice)

• Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee (FESAC) advises BEA, BLS and Census on business statistics

• Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations

• Many others

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© John M. Abowd and Lars Vilhuber 2016, all rights reserved

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International Statistical Structure

• United Nations Statistics Division• World Bank Databank• Organization for Economic Development and C

ooperation (OECD) Databank• Eurostat• But, at the core of all of these are the national

statistical agencies official publications

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