Statistics are not a technical afterthought; they are the bedrock of America’s economic security.

America’s statistical system—the operating system of our economy—is losing credibility at home just as competition abroad is intensifying. Revisions to jobs or inflation figures are seized as partisan weapons. Trust in official data is fraying just as the need for credible, timely statistics has never been greater. These controversies raise hard questions about the system’s condition and purpose. They also offer an opportunity to imagine the federal statistical system that the United States needs rather than fixating on the one we have.  

Admittedly, that’s a heavy lift. Start talking statistics, and most people tune out. Yet these indicators and data form the lexicon of modern life—the way we anchor to economic reality. They are the raw material for the most consequential decisions, shaping whether families feel they are getting ahead, whether businesses invest, and whether policymakers govern wisely. Every Fed rate adjustment, every budget debate, every regulatory change in financial markets depends on reliable statistics. Without them, America is groping in the dark.

Businesses, large and small, feel this every day: banks set credit terms with labor and inflation data, mortgage rates—felt by every homebuyer—move with Fed policies rooted in official figures, UPS routes goods with trade and freight data, and hospitals and pharmaceutical companies use population and health statistics to direct R&D. Get the numbers right, and investment flows. Get them wrong, and markets misfire, supply chains snarl, and patients wait longer for care.

That is why stewardship of the federal statistical system must be treated as the economic security priority that it is—that is always has been. Since the republic’s founding, the statistical systems—its disciplines, technologies, and workforce—served as a cornerstone of governance. That system became the world’s gold standard not by chance, but through generational investments in integrity and innovation—often forged in response to the nation’s greatest economic and security challenges.

History bears this out. In 1790, James Madison expanded the census to capture occupations, giving leaders the facts to “adapt public measures.” Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin later used the 1810 Census to launch the first Census of Manufactures, charting the nation’s industrial base. In World War II, Simon Kuznets built national income accounts to plan war production. And in the Cold War, new measures of science and technology let America benchmark its innovative capacity against the Soviets. In every era, with the full engagement and support of the Congress, statistics have been part of the nation’s economic security arsenal—tools for growth, security, and governance.

The same should be true today. The federal statistical system must meet three unprecedented challenges. First, the United States faces a determined peer competitor in China that is deploying subsidies, exploiting supply-chain chokepoints, and investing in R&D and technology on a scale designed to tilt the balance of global power. To compete, the United States must be able to measure its own performance and benchmark progress against its rival. Second, our economy is being transformed by overlapping technology revolutions in artificial intelligence and digital networks, as well as a major upheaval in global trade—these dynamics are flowing through to markets and communities. Federal statistics must evolve to capture these transformations, or they risk irrelevance. Third, our society is more polarized than ever, with shared facts increasingly contested. The accuracy and credibility of official data are not technical matters but civic necessities.

We need only look abroad to see the consequences when credibility falters. In Greece, understated deficits eroded confidence in sovereign accounts and helped trigger a eurozone debt crisis. In Argentina, the manipulation of inflation statistics destroyed trust in policy and locked the country out of capital markets for years. In China, where official figures often serve political messaging as much as transparency, even domestic analysts struggle to know what is real, leaving investors uncertain and wary.

The United States has long stood apart because its statistics are seen as rigorous, accurate, and timely. If confidence in US data were to erode, the costs would be severe. Markets could discount official numbers or turn to private alternatives, raising the cost of capital. Households could lose faith in unemployment or inflation figures, deepening polarization and fueling suspicion. Policymakers, stripped of a shared baseline, could find themselves unable to act decisively in a crisis. In short, without trusted numbers, America risks losing both domestic cohesion and global economic leadership.

The reality is that two pistons of the American statistical machine—integrity and innovation—are under strain. Integrity is threatened by politicization, as revisions to jobs or inflation data are too often weaponized. Innovation is strained by the velocity of information: technology companies and private data firms are producing torrents of real-time insights, from transactions to satellite images, that could transform how we measure the economy. Yet federal agencies, constrained by flat budgets, aging IT, and falling survey response rates, have been slow to adapt. They know the intricacies of the system better than anyone, but they need urgency, open minds, and a willingness to learn from outside innovators.

In past eras, we built statistical systems to deliver on national goals such as building the industrial base or fighting wars. Today, that goal is to ensure US economic security by promoting economic dynamism and protecting technology advantages. We need a statistical reform agenda that fits this purpose. That means fixing the pipes by modernizing IT and data platforms; rebuilding the statistical workforce by recruiting and retaining top talent in statistics, economics, and artificial intelligence (AI); protecting credibility so accuracy remains beyond politics; and innovating responsibly with high-frequency indicators, AI-enabled analysis, and new measures of emerging technologies.

Reform can’t be left to agency insiders—or hijacked by polarized politics. It demands a broad national consensus that unites business leaders, investors, state and local governments, and the country’s best statistical minds at one table—and it must happen fast. Statistics are not a technical afterthought; they are the bedrock of America’s economic security. If we fail to restore credibility and modernize our tools, we won’t just lose faith in the numbers. We will forfeit the ability to govern wisely, invest confidently, and compete in a dangerous world.