Katharine Abraham and John Haltiwanger Call on Congress to Restore Funding to Agencies that Provide Statistics on the Economy
How is the economy faring since the government shutdown? We don’t really know, according to economists Katharine Abraham and John Haltiwanger in an Op-Ed piece they wrote for the New York Times on October 4, 2013. Many of the most important sources of data about the nation’s economy have been shut down along with the federal government. The Bureau of Labor Statistics did not release its monthly jobs report in October, and many other crucial economic data reports will be delayed or canceled altogether due to lack of funding. As a result, economists and policymakers are operating blind.
Abraham and Haltiwanger argue that federal statistics are far from “non-essential” because they inform the Federal Reserve, the executive branch of government, and Congress on the state of the economy and the impact of economic policies. State and local policy makers, businesses, and households also need this data in order to make informed decisions.
Budgets for federal statistics have already been slashed as part of the sequester, they note. In 2014, many government agencies including the Census bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis will be forced to eliminate key reports. Even worse, the data they do release will be less reliable because budget cuts are forcing agencies to compromise the quality of their methods.
“Now more than ever, framing sound economic policy depends on timely and accurate information about the economy,” Abraham and Haltiwanger write. “The tighter the budget and the more contentious the political debate around it, the more compelling the argument for investing in federal data that accurately show how government policies are affecting the economy, so we can target the most effective cuts or spending or other policies, and make ourselves accountable for their results.”
Katharine Abraham and John Haltiwanger are Faculty Associates at the Maryland Population Research Center.