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Federal Economic Data Gets Furloughed by the Shutdown

  • Government indicators emerged to answer key policy questions
  • As shutdown drags on, analysts are promoting back-up sources
The Washington Monument is seen as a National Park Service park ranger stands in the Old Post Office Pavilion Museum, housed in the Trump International Hotel, during the partial government shutdown in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 12, 2019.

The Washington Monument is seen as a National Park Service park ranger stands in the Old Post Office Pavilion Museum, housed in the Trump International Hotel, during the partial government shutdown in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 12, 2019.

Photographer: Alex Edelman/Bloomberg

As America’s partial government shutdown drags into its 25th day, it’s depriving economists and analysts of their intellectual lifeblood: federal data.

To understand why government data is so crucial, it’s worth looking back to a time before comprehensive federal statistics existed -- and fortunately Hugh Rockoff at Rutgers University has a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper out on just that point.