The Black Population: 2000

Census 2000 showed that the United States population on April 1, 2000 was 281.4 million. Of the total, 36.4 million, or 12.9 percent, reported Black or African American. This number includes 34.7 million people, or 12.3 percent, who reported only Black in addition to 1.8 million people, or 0.6 percent, who reported Black as well as one or more other races. The term Black is used in the text of this report to refer to the Black or African American population, while Black or African American is used in the ext tables and graphs. Census 2000 asked separate questions on race and Hispanic or Latino origin. Hispanics who reported their race as Black, either alone or in combination with one or more other races, are included in the numbers for Blacks. This report, part of a series that analyzes population and housing data collected from Census 2000, provides a portrait of the Black population in the United States and discusses its distribution at both the national and subnational levels. It is based on the Census 2000 Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File, which was among the first Census 2000 data products to be released and is used by each state to draw boundaries for legislative districts. The term “Black or African American” refers to people having origins in any of the Black race groups of Africa. It includes people who reported “Black, African Am., or Negro” or wrote in entries such as African American, Afro American, Nigerian, or Haitian. Data on race has been collected since the first U.S. decennial census in 1790

The U.S. Census Bureau Adopts Differential Privacy

The U.S. Census Bureau announced, via its Scientific Advisory Committee, that it would protect the publications of the 2018 End-to-End Census Test (E2E) using differential privacy. The E2E test is a dress rehearsal for the 2020 Census, the constitutionally mandated enumeration of the population used to reapportion the House of Representatives and redraw every legislative district in the country. Systems that perform successfully in the E2E test are then used in the production of the 2020 Census. Motivation: The Census Bureau conducted internal research that confirmed that the statistical disclosure limitation systems used for the 2000 and 2010 Censuses had serious vulnerabilities that were exposed by the Dinur and Nissim (2003) database reconstruction theorem. We designed a differentially private publication system that directly addressed these vulnerabilities while preserving the fitness for use of the core statistical products. Problem statement: Designing and engineering production differential privacy systems requires two primary components: (1) inventing and constructing algorithms that deliver maximum accuracy for a given privacy-loss budget and (2) insuring that the privacy-loss budget can be directly controlled by the policy-makers who must choose an appropriate point on the accuracy-privacy-loss tradeoff. The first problem lies in the domain of computer science. The second lies in the domain of economics. Approach: The algorithms under development for the 2020 Census focus on the data used to draw legislative districts and to enforce the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA). These algorithms efficiently distribute the noise injected by differential privacy. The Data Stewardship Executive Policy Committee selects the privacy-loss parameter after reviewing accuracy-privacy-loss graphs

ESTIMATING THE COST OF FOOD SAFETY REGULATION TO THE NEW ZEALAND SEAFOOD INDUSTRY

In New Zealand, the Animal Products Act 1999 requires all animal product processing businesses to have a HACCP-based risk management program by the end of 2002. This paper attempts to measure the effects of such regulation on the variable cost of production of the New Zealand seafood industry. Using the framework developed by Antle (2000), a model of quality-adjusted translog cost function is estimated using census of production data from 1929 to 1998. Our results show that variable costs could increase from 2% to 22% or from 2 cents to 19 cents per kilogram.HACCP, compliance costs, seafood, Production Economics,

Impact of FDI on Domestic Firms' Exports in China

Using manufacturing industry firm-level census data from the period of 2000-2003 in China, this paper examines the impact of foreign direct investment on domestic firms' exports. After dealing with econometric problems of endogeneity and sample selection, we find that foreign direct investment in China has had a positive impact on domestic firms' export value through backward industrial linkages and a positive impact on domestic firms' export propensities in the same industry through demonstration effects. In particular, non-exporting FDI firms and FDI firms producing homogeneous products are more likely to generate the positive export spillovers to domestic firms through industrial linkages while exporting FDI firms and FDI firms producing heterogeneous products are more likely to generate positive export spillovers to domestic firms through demonstration effects in the same industry.Foreign Direct Investment, export spillovers, industrial linkage

Differential Privacy and the Accuracy of County-Level Net Migration Estimates

Each decade since the 1950s, demographers have generated high-quality net migration estimates by age, sex, and race for US counties using decennial census data as starting and ending populations. The estimates have been downloaded tens of thousands of times and widely used for planning, diverse applications, and research. Census 2020 should allow the series to extend through the 2010–2020 decade. The accuracy of new estimates, however, could be challenged by differentially private (DP) disclosure avoidance techniques in Census 2020 data products. This research brief estimates the impact of DP implementation on the accuracy of county-level net migration estimates. Using differentially private Census 2010 demonstration data, we construct a hypothetical set of DP migration estimates for 2000–2010 and compare them to published estimates, using common accuracy metrics and spatial analysis. Findings show that based on demonstration data released in 2020, net migration estimates by five-year age groups would only be accurate enough for use in about half of counties. Inaccuracies are larger in counties with populations less than 50,000, among age groups 65 and over, and among Hispanics. These problems are not fully resolved by grouping into broader age groups. Moreover, errors tend to cluster spatially in some regions of the country. Ultimately, the ability to generate accurate net migration estimates at the same level of detail as in the past will depend on the Census Bureau’s allocation of the privacy loss budget

Do Rising Tides Lift All Prices? Income Inequality and Housing Affordability

Simple partial-equilibrium models suggest that income increases at the high end of the distribution can raise price paid by those at the low end of the income distribution. This prediction does not universally hold in a general equilibrium model, or in models where the rich and poor consume distinct products. We use Census microdata to evaluate these predictions empirically, using data on housing markets in American metropolitan areas between 1970 and 2000. Evidence clearly and unsurprisingly shows that decreases in one's own income lead to less housing consumption and less income left over after paying for housing. The effect of increases in others' income, holding one's own income constant, is more nuanced. In tight housing markets, the poor do worse when the rich get richer. In slack markets, at least some evidence suggests that increases in others' income, holding own income constant, may be beneficial.

The European Space Agency {\Gaia} mission: exploring the Galaxy

The {\Gaia} astrometric mission was approved by the European Space Agency in 2000 and the construction of the spacecraft and payload is on-going for a launch in late 2012. {\Gaia} will continuously scan the entire sky for 5 years, yielding positional and velocity measurements with the accuracies needed to produce a stereoscopic and kinematic census of about one billion stars throughout our Galaxy and beyond. The main scientific goal is to quantify early formation and the subsequent dynamic and chemical evolution of the Milky way. The stellar survey will have a completeness to $V = 20$ mag, with a precision of about 25 $\mu$as at 15 mag. The astrometric information will be combined with astrophysical data acquired through on-board spectrophotometry and spectroscopy, allowing the chemical composition and age of the stars to be derived. Data acquired and processed as a result of the {\Gaia} mission are estimated to amount to about 1 petabyte. One of the challenging problems is the close relationship between astrometric and astrophysical data, which involves a global iterative solution that updates instruments parameters, the attitude of the satellite, and the properties of the observed objects. The European community is organized to deal with {\Gaia} products: (a) the Data Processing and Analysis Consortium is a joint European effort in charge of preparation and execution of data processing, (b) the GREAT network is a platform for collaboration on the preparation of scientific exploitation.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, conference "Astronomy with Megastructures. Joint science with E-ELT and SKA" held 10 -14 May 2010, Crete, Greec

Spatiotemporal patterns of population in mainland China, 1990 to 2010

According to UN forecasts, global population will increase to over 8 billion by 2025, with much of this anticipated population growth expected in urban areas. In China, the scale of urbanization has, and continues to be, unprecedented in terms of magnitude and rate of change. Since the late 1970s, the percentage of Chinese living in urban areas increased from ~18% to over 50%. To quantify these patterns spatially we use time-invariant or temporally-explicit data, including census data for 1990, 2000, and 2010 in an ensemble prediction model. Resulting multi-temporal, gridded population datasets are unique in terms of granularity and extent, providing fine-scale (~100 m) patterns of population distribution for mainland China. For consistency purposes, the Tibet Autonomous Region, Taiwan, and the islands in the South China Sea were excluded. The statistical model and considerations for temporally comparable maps are described, along with the resulting datasets. Final, mainland China population maps for 1990, 2000, and 2010 are freely available as products from the WorldPop Project website and the WorldPop Dataverse Repository

Where did all the irrigators go? Trends in irrigation and demographics in Kansas

Presented at the 2006 Central Plains irrigation conference on February 21-22 in Colby, Kansas.The 2000 United States Census indicated that Kansas had grown by 8.51 percent in population since 1990, compared to the national average growth rate of 13.15 percent. Only nine (9) of 105 counties in Kansas experienced growth equal to or greater than the national average growth rate. From 2000-2004 only 8 counties grew at or above the national average growth rate. In 1990, Kansans were 1.00 percent of the U.S. population, in 2004 only 0.94% of the population. The 2004 population estimates had 56 of 105 counties in Kansas declining in population since 2000. Of the 54 counties overlying the High Plains aquifer, only three (3) counties had equal or greater growth than the national average. In addition the census also indicated a cultural transition as many counties experienced domestic out-migration and foreign immigration. Agricultural Census data document a 5.26 percent decrease in the total market value of agricultural products from 1997 to 2002, while the total number of farms increased 4.58 percent in Kansas during the same period. The number of Irrigated farms decreased by 3.58 percent with total irrigated acres declining by only 1.07 percent to 2.678 million acres over the same five year period. Total acreage in crop production declined 1.59 percent, while the market value of crops sold decreasing 24.9% from $3.22 billion in 1997 to$2.42 billion in 2002. Since 1990, irrigation technology has dramatically changed to more efficient low pressure pivot and SDI (subsurface drip irrigation) systems. With more efficient water use, irrigators have been able to grow significantly more corn and other water intensive crops. Given the 3.5 percent decrease in the number of irrigated farms since 1997, the resulting 1.08 percent decline in irrigated acres indicates increased acreage efficiency by remaining irrigators. This presentation intends to demonstrate spatial and temporal trends in irrigation and demographics for Kansas, with focus on the 54 counties overlying the High Plains Aquifer

Making sense of the manufacturing belt : determinants of U.S. industrial location, 1880-1920

This paper investigates the ability of the new economic geography to explain the persistence of the manufacturing belt in the United States around the turn of the 20th century using a model which subsumes both market-potential and factor-endowment arguments. The results show that market potential was central to the existence of the manufacturing belt, that it mattered more than factor endowments, and that its impact came through interactions both with scale economies and with linkage effects. Natural advantage played a role in industrial location but only through agricultural inputs which were important for a small subset of manufacturing