Honest Numbers and Democracy: Social Policy Analysis in the White House, Congress, and the Federal Agencies - Softcover

In Honest Numbers and Democracy, Walter Williams offers a revealing history of policy analysis in the federal government and a scorching critique of what's wrong with social policy analysis today. Williams, a policy insider who witcessed the birth of domestic policy analysis during the Johnson administration, contends that the increasingly partisan U.S. political environment is vitiating both "honest numbers"--the data used to direct public policy--and, more importantly, honest analysts, particularly in the White House. Drawing heavily on candid off-the-record interviews with political executives, career civil servants, elected officials and Washington-based journalists, Williams documents the steady deformation of social policy analysis under the pressure of ideological politics waged both by the executive and legislative branches. Beginning with the Reagan era and continuing into Clinton's tenure, Williams focuses on the presidents' growing penchant to misuse and hide numbers provided by their own analysts to assist in major policy decisions.

Walter Williams is professor emeritus at the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington and a frequent contributor to the editorial pages of newspapers across the country.