The Use of Statistics: Bismarck, Sausages and Policy

Herbert F. Spirer and Louise Spirer

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 1991, vol. 50, issue 3, 347-350

Abstract: Abstract. Bismarck is supposed to have said that the making of neither policy, nor sausages, should be watched. Today, because the electronic media allow the public‐and statisticians‐to watch the Congresses it deliberates, the process of formulating policy is more open. The authors discuss two important bills and the differences in approach. In debating a bill on hate crimes, the Senate Judiciary Committee proposed a sensible data collection policy and analysis; in debating a bill on drug education, these same senators relied on opinion rather than on available data which might have provided valuable statistical input to the discussion and the eventual decisions the senators agreed upon. The authors ask why the policy‐makers chose to use such different approaches to data collection.

Date: 1991
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https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1536-7150.1991.tb02302.x

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