Statistical Needs for a Changing U.S. Economy

摘要

U.S. national statistics are acknowledged to be among the best in the world. But the U.S. economy is changing in ways that make documenting economic performance much more difficult. The new dimensions of growth and change have also challenged traditional approaches to economic growth policy. Serving the new needs of policymakers in a time of change will require a coordinated response of the Nation's statistical agencies. The present management of the statistical agencies makes such a response difficult. The paper examines eight basic questions of economic policy and the ability to answer them with currently available statistics. The report examines the data and the statistical apparatus that is in place to answer these questions and points out a number of deficiencies. The last question is not addressed as a separate topic but is touched on throughout. A proper way to address this question remains a major challenge for all statistical work. The material that follows reviews some of the administrative problems that have contributed to the problem. In many cases, of course, the statistical agencies recognize the problems but there are no easy answers (it is much easier for a report like this one to identify faults than to suggest concrete remedies). Better management can not guarantee improvements but can make the search for solutions more productive, and make better use of existing resources.