Presentations from the May 8, 2009, Seminar on the Federal Statistical System: Recognizing its Contributions; Moving it Forward

Session I: The Nation’s Statistical System: Why It Matters

Peter Orszag, Director, U.S. Office of Management and Budget (bio)
The Nation’s Statistical System and Why it Matters: Federal Statistics in a Science-Driven Administration

Session II: What is the Federal Statistical System

William Eddy, Department of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University, and Chair, CNSTAT (bio)
What is the Statistical System? The Building Blocks

Margo Anderson, Professor of History and Urban Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (bio)
Who Counts? The Census and the Federal Statistical System

Dale W. Jorgenson, Samuel W. Morris University Professor, Harvard University (bio)
A New Architecture for the U.S. National Accounts

Session III: Knowledge Gained from Federal Statistics

Katharine Abraham, Professor, Joint Program in Survey Methodology, University of Maryland (bio)
How Federal Statistics Help us to Understand the Labor Market: A Few Examples

Robin O’Malley, The Heinz Center (bio)
Federal Statistics and the Environment (and don’t forget the States)

Stephanie Coontz, Professor of History and Family Studies, The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA (bio)
No PowerPoint slides used

Samuel Preston, Frederick J. Warren Professor of Demography, University of Pennsylvania (bio)
Federal Statistical on Health

Douglas Massey, Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton University (bio)
No PowerPoint Slides used

Session IV: Perspectives from Business and Government

Maurine A. Haver, Chair, National Association for Business Economics Statistics Committee and President, Haver Analytics, Inc. (bio)
Perspectives from Business

Paul Overberg, Database Editor, USA Today (bio)
Perspectives from Media

Michael O’Grady, Senior Fellow, National Opinion Research Center and former Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (bio)
No PowerPoint slides used

Nancy Kingsbury, Managing Director, Applied Research and Methods, U.S. Government Accountability Office (bio)
GAO and Congressional Uses of Federal Statistics

Joseph Salvo, Director, Population Division, New York City Department of City Planning (bio)
Small-Area Data for Local Government Decision-making: Informed Choices and the Role of Federal Statistics