But economists are increasingly worried efforts by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) to radically slim down the government will undermine officials’ ability to collect, analyse and research statistics on the US economy.
“All of the cuts in federal funding and some of the ones you’ve seen come out of Doge . . . they’re often a death blow to already very stretched survey operations,” said Ricardo Reis, a London School of Economics professor, who is a consultant at the Richmond Federal Reserve.
He added: “The things that go behind [the consumer price index, GDP] and others — all those surveys I think of as possible casualties.”
The US’s sprawling statistics operation is decentralised, with more than a dozen agencies and units collating data across several departments, including commerce, labour and agriculture. These agencies produce flagship reports such as the consumer price index and non-farm payrolls, which are closely scrutinised on Wall Street, along with a trove of lower-profile data that helps inform policy debates and academic research.
Lutnick’s move to close the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee, a body that advised statistics agencies, sparked concern among economists polled by the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and the FT earlier this month.
Economists are also concerned that Doge’s attempts to rein in spending will lead to statisticians with a high degree of specialised knowledge leaving the government — something that they warn can end up costing the US taxpayer more than it will save in the longer term.
Matthew Shapiro, a University of Michigan economist who is a former chair of FESAC, said: “The [push for federal staff to take] early retirements might lead to a lot of highly expert human capital walking out the door.”
Shapiro also believes an executive order from President Donald Trump to eliminate “information silos” that would force agencies to share data with officials designated by the president is also expected to lead to declines in response rates for polls, such as the labour force survey.
The research networks that play a critical role in developing and maintaining standards, such as the National Bureau of Economic Research, are also under pressure from billions of dollars’ worth of cuts to research funding.
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