New subject: The Case for ACS, the Economic Census, sampling and Federal data-gathering

17 May 2013

The loss of Census sampling (today the ACS), the Census of Agriculture, the
Economic Census, etc., would be disastrous in so many ways I find it hard to
believe anyone - even deeply partisan politicians - would advocate their
demise. The small gain to the Federal government's bottom line would be
undercut by huge (albeit hidden) losses to the private and public sectors.
The loss would be especially acute for small businesses. 

1.       There can be no serious doubt that Federal sample products leverage
their cost many times over in benefits to the economy. The benefits are so
widespread, and so implicit, that the burden of proof must lie on anyone
attempting to undo Federal data-gathering. And they will find no such proof.

2.       The U.S. government has, in the past, set the world standard for
data-gathering. The widespread availability of free, accurate data runs
hand-in-hand with upholding the standard as the world's foremost democratic
society. To surrender the ACS and related products is not just a bad idea,
it is a retreat from leadership.

3.       Answering ACS forms, or any other Federal questionnaire, is a
matter of personal responsibility. To survive, democracy depends not just on
the protection of personal rights; it also demands a sense of responsibility
by its citizens.

4.       I have never heard of anyone going to prison, or even being fined,
for failing to provide data to Census takers. Everyone knows that there are
people and businesses which refuse to cooperate; the practice of
non-compliance is already tolerated. But compliance is the law, and this
sets a tone of legality which allows the ACS and other projects to gather
the necessary data.

5.       If the data business becomes mostly private in nature, the cost of
obtaining data will largely limit its availability to large corporations
that could afford to purchase it, creating another disadvantage to small
businesses and business start-ups.

6.       Here in Little Rock we host one of the country's largest
data-gathering agencies, the Acxiom Corporation.  It's an open secret that
Acxiom, and other companies like it, hold vast amounts of data about just
about everybody. While Census data is protected by confidentiality laws,
disturbingly intimate corporate data can be sold to the highest bidder. 

7.       While the anti-census anti-government lobby argues unconvincingly
about government as "Big Brother," there is therefore another, less
accountable version of "Big Brother," existing in secret corporate
data-gathering. Such data could become the only basis for information about
our society. Without Federal laws, and Executive and Congressional
oversight, who could prevent this private data from being falsified? Without
the credibility of ACS and related programs as a "cross-check," false
information could be fed into the system, and could be manipulated by
private power brokers.

8.       Here in Little Rock we have a small spinoff company which has used
Acxiom data to attempt census-like products. Around 2009, they privately
gave me a total for the state's largest county (Pulaski) that disagreed with
my careful estimates. They ended up being high by about 7 percent, compared
with the Census 2010 count that appeared a few months later. My own
estimate, based on housing records, was within 1 or 2 percent. A corporate
representative thought their figures were inarguably correct; I thought
their methods for counting people were flawed. Guess who was right.

9.       Data-gathering by the Census Bureau and related agencies isn't
perfect, but it has oversight through the democratic process. I'll trust a
process that's been around since 1790 before I trust a private company that
answers first to shareholders.

It is my earnest hope that the effort to kill the ACS is so blatantly
foolish that it will never make it to a vote by the U.S. Congress or Senate.
I ask those who keep their ear to Congress to please keep the data community
well-informed about this disturbing development.

Jonathan Lupton AICP

Research Planner

Metroplan

Little Rock, Arkansas

501-372-3300 