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Science Starts Not after Measurement, but with Measurement
Federal statistics should be viewed and treated as part of the nations scientific infrastructure. The empirical social sciences dependent on those statistics produce social knowledge directly relevant to social problem analysis and policy formation. Statistics primarily come from the census and federal sample surveys, but increasing use is made of administrative and digital data. These two dat…
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- Vol. 631 no. 1, September 2010.pp. 7-16
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- 00027162
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- Series Title
- The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
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Federal Statistics in the Policy making Process
Federal statistics are integral to the adequate evaluation of public policy planning and performance in the United States. The Obama administration has determined that empirical science, including statistics, will be at the foundation of the presidents policy agenda. However, to be useful, federal statistics must be reliable, relevant, timely, and unbiased, and the departments that produce the…
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- Vol. 631 no. 1, September 2010.pp. 34-42
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- 00027162
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- The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
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The Government Accountability Office and Congressional Uses of Federal Statis…
This article examines the ways in which the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) provides the U.S. Congress with information that is timely, objective, fact-based, nonpartisan, nonideological, fair, and balanced. It shows how over many decades, GAOs work has led to laws that have improved government operations and saved the government and the taxpayers billions of dollars. The article r…
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- Vol. 631 no. 1, September 2010.pp. 43-62
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- 00027162
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- Series Title
- The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
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Designing a New Architecture for the U.S. National Accounts
The key elements of a new architecture for the U.S. national accounts have been developed in a prototype system constructed by Dale W. Jorgenson and J. Steven Landefeld, director of the Bureau of Economic Analysis at the U.S. Department of Commerce. As the U.S. economy emerges from the most severe contraction since the Second World War, the focus of policy will shift toward enhancing the econom…
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- Vol. 631 no. 1, September 2010.pp. 63-74
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- 00027162
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- Series Title
- The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
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The Federal Statistical System: The Local Government Perspective
Federal data are crucial to state and local governments, enabling them to assess the level of need in a community, to establish appropriate funding levels for programs, and to implement programs in a cost-effective manner. This article first demonstrates how data from the decennial census and American Community Survey have been used by a local governmentNew York Citysto identify and target t…
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- Vol. 631 no. 1, September 2010.pp. 75-88
- ISBN/ISSN
- 00027162
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- Series Title
- The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
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Indicators and the Federal Statistical System: An Essential but Fraught Partn…
An indicator can be defined as a statistic used as part of an assessment exercise. There have been three relatively distinct waves of interest in indicators at the national level. Indicator work creates both opportunities and hazards for federal statistical agencies. Indicators not only increase the accessibility of federal statistics but also expose statistical agencies to charges of partisans…
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- Vol. 631 no. 1, September 2010.pp. 89-108
- ISBN/ISSN
- 00027162
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- Series Title
- The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
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Immigration Statistics for the Twenty-First Century
Of the three main contributors to population growth fertility, mortality, and net migrationthe latter is by far the most difficult to capture statistically. This article discusses the main sources of federal statistical data on immigration, each with its own characteristic set of strengths, weaknesses, possibilities, and limitations in the context of the interested social scientist. Among the…
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- Vol. 631 no. 1, September 2010.pp. 124-140
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- 00027162
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- Series Title
- The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
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Why American Families Need the Census
This article examines how family researchers use federal statistics, particularly from the U.S. Census, to understand the realities of trends concerning the family unit. The article shows that these data have helped researchers to understand the major, largely irreversible revolution that has taken place in America in the ways that people engage in family formation, make interpersonal commitmen…
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- Vol. 631 no. 1, September 2010.pp. 141-149
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- 00027162
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- Series Title
- The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
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The Census and the Federal Statistical System: Historical Perspectives
This article provides an overview of one major platform of the federal statistical system, the census. It briefly describes the origin and structure of the current diverse and decentralized federal statistical system and then describes the place of the census and the Census Bureau in the system. It treats the census in the context of the demographic and political history of the nation and discu…
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- Vol. 631 no. 1, September 2010.pp. 152-162
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- 00027162
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- The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
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The Structure and Activities of the U.S. Federal Statistical System: History …
This article examines the statistical system of the United Statesfeaturing fourteen principal statistical agencies and sixty to seventy units in other federal agencies focusing on the systems highly decentralized nature and the ways in which the agencies attempt to evaluate the status of issues relevant to the mission of their departments and to provide information helpful in the creation of…
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- Vol. 631 no. 1, September 2010.pp. 163-178
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- 00027162
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- The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
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The Role of the Federal Statistical System in Evidence-based Policymaking, or…
This article discusses the strained nature of the relationship between the research/analytic world and the policy/political world. The research/analytic world in general and the statistical community in particular are portrayed as not wanting to be pulled into partisan politics. At the same time, the policy makers are portrayed as not seeing that statistical analysis is essential to confronting…
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- Vol. 631 no. 1, September 2010.pp. 180-188
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- 00027162
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- The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
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The Federal Statistical System and the Four “I”s
This article addresses the process through which the federal statistical system may be restored to its appropriate place for providing high-quality data and information, in response to the damage caused by the budgetary woes that agencies have suffered in recent years. The article describes how this work will facilitate moving the country forward, both on its path to economic recovery and to a …
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- Vol. 631 no. 1, September 2010.pp. 189-193
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- 00027162
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- The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
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Future of Innovation in the Federal Statistical System
A healthy and vigorous program for innovation is fundamental to provide for the nations statistical needs. Innovation in federal statistics is a broad-spectrum subject and ranges from the traditional subjects to those less usually considered, such as new approaches to bridging the interface between users and statisticians. Innovation in the federal statistical system is influenced by three for…
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- Vol. 631 no. 1, September 2010. pp. 194-203
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- 00027162
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- The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
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Principles and Practices for the Federal Statistical System: The View from th…
The Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) was established in 1972 to improve the statistical methods and information upon which public policy decisions are based, thereby furthering the ability of the highly decentralized federal statistical system to deliver relevent, timely, and cost-effective information. While CNSTATs original mandate was to provide an independent and objective resourc…
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- Vol. 631 no. 1, September 2010. pp. 210-224
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- 00027162
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- Series Title
- The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
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What Is Political Interference in Federal Statistics?
Federal statistical agencies are funded and supervised by elected and appointed politicians. What counts as politial interference is not self-evident. This article offers a working definition of interference, emphasizing the importance of an agency offering its best judgment regarding accurate measurement of a given phenomenon, its ability to apply state-of-the-art science in that measurement, …
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- Vol. 631 no. 1, September 2010. pp. 225-238
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- 00027162
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- The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
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Redistributing toward the Rich: Strategic Policy Crafting in the Campaign to …
Beginning in 1938, some American business groups campaigned to repeal the Sixteenth Amendment and limit the federal taxation of income and wealth. Although their proposed upward?redistributive policy would benefit few voters, it won the support of 31 state legislatures. To explain this outcome, this article offers a theory of strategic policy crafting by advocacy groups. Such groups may succeed…
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- Volume 116 Number 1, July 2010.pp. 1–52
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- 00029602
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- Series Title
- American Journal of Sociology
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Trouble in Store: Probes, Protests, and Store Openings by Wal‐Mart, 1998–…
The authors consider how uncertainty over protest occurrence shapes the strategic interaction between companies and activists. Analyzing Wal?Mart, the authors find support for their theory that companies respond to this uncertainty through a test for protest approach. In Wal?Marts case, this consists of low?cost probes in the form of new store proposals. They then withdraw if they face prote…
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- Volume 116 Number 1, July 2010.pp. 53–92
- ISBN/ISSN
- 00029602
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- American Journal of Sociology
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Changing to Win? Threat, Resistance, and the Role of Unions in Strikes, 1984…
Much of what we know about strikes is grounded in the context of postwar Fordism, a unique historical moment of relatively institutionalized labor?management relations. Yet the resurgence of corporate resistance over the past quarter century, coupled with an increasingly hostile political and economic climate, has fundamentally transformed the American industrial landscape. Drawing from this re…
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- Volume 116 Number 1, July 2010.pp. 93–129
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- 00029602
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- Series Title
- American Journal of Sociology
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The Civilizing Process and Its Discontents: Suicide and Crimes against Person…
A spatial analysis of data for French dpartements assembled in the 1830s by Andr?Michel Guerry and Adolphe dAngeville examines the impacts of modernization and resistance to governmental Frenchification policies on measures of violence and its direction. In the context of Unnithan et al.s integrated model of suicide and homicide, high suicide rates in the northern core and a predilection …
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- Volume 116 Number 1, July 2010.pp. 130–86
- ISBN/ISSN
- 00029602
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- Series Title
- American Journal of Sociology
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Racial Boundary Formation at the Dawn of Jim Crow: The Determinants and Effec…
This article examines variation in the social position of mixed?race populations by exploiting county?level variation in the degree of occupational differentiation between blacks and mulattoes in the 1880 U.S. census. The role of the mixed?race category as either a buffer class or a status threat depended on the class composition of whites. Black/mulatto occupational differentiation was great…
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- Volume 116 Number 1, July 2010.pp. 187–231
- ISBN/ISSN
- 00029602
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- -
- Series Title
- American Journal of Sociology
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