Statistics, Politics and Policy

Statistics, Politics, and Policy studies the ways that statistical analysis drives public policy decisions, and publishes significant research on the application of statistical ideas to problems that relate to policy implementation.

The increasing amount and complexity of available data is constantly creating new challenges for statistical thinking in policy problems. While many academic statisticians tend to share among themselves their latest methods and models, less attention has been paid to the usefulness of those statistical methods and models to inform public policy decisions, and what statistical approaches might be most effective in designing how policies are implemented. In the policy sphere, statistical methods are sometimes taken as a given, with less attention to all the variations, assumptions, and effects of different methods in differing contexts. But it is in the policy sphere that statistical debates can have the great value and impact, and the intersection of statistics and public policy is a fertile ground for statistical research and analysis to address important policy issues that may have widespread ramifications.

As an electronic journal, Statistics, Politics, and Policy will use a mix of voices and approaches to reach a broad audience. The journal aims to open avenues of communication between statisticians and policy makers on questions that pique the interest of the public. The journal will appeal to statisticians, policy analysts, and anyone interested in the implicit yet powerful ways that statistical thinking influences decisions that affect many aspects of public life.

Statistics, Politics, and Policy will publish applied research articles that explore the implications of statistical thinking and methods applied to public policy issues. The journal will also publish engaging commentary pieces and innovative policy ideas on the public issues of the day where statistics plays, or ought to play, a role.

For papers on applied statistical research, the focus should be on the relevant statistical issues, with a succinct description of the policy issue being addressed. The range of topics is wide and will include areas such as educational testing and policy, energy and environmental policy including demography and climate change, public finance, history and review of statistical ideas applied to public policy controversies, taxation and business policy, justice, crime and forensic analyses, health policy including health care finance, drug development, approval and monitoring, politics, sociological policy analyses, statistical methodology including study design and causal inference, and survey methods. In all the areas noted above, the primary objective of the journal will be to highlight the use of innovative statistical methodology in order to elucidate and resolve important public policy issues.