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How to Count a Country

I’m not a math girl. I skated through high school calculus by feigning support for my teacher's ultimate frisbee league. When I count change, I still have to count out loud. 

So I’m sympathetic to the U.S. Census Bureau, which is charged with counting...however many...U.S. residents every 10 years. 

• The official Census Day was Wednesday. But April 1 isn’t actually the deadline for counting everyone, it’s just the “reference date” for residents. The actual deadline is August 14, though the bureau will start chasing you down in May. 
• The bureau is constitutionally required to submit new counts for all the states to the president by New Year’s Eve. 

It’s a massive task, and it’s massively important. The census count determines the number of political representatives and Electoral College votes each state receives, plus how $1.5 trillion in federal funding is allocated. 

And how the business world functions, more or less

In a world without census data…

Banks might hawk loans to the wrong people. Real estate brokers might not know the difference between up-and-coming and down-and-out. TV networks might charge the same amount for ads that run alongside the Olympics and The Slap. And department stores might target compression shorts at your elderly grandfather. 

• Many small businesses use census data to decide where to advertise and launch new locations. 
• Others rely on apps and other data providers for their operations, which are themselves informed by the census. 

Maybe most significantly, the federal government shapes business-supporting programs like loans based on Punxsutawney Phil. Kidding, they use census data. 

Suffice to say, a lot of businesses don’t just need census data, they need it to be timely and accurate. Which brings me to…

How the coronavirus is complicating the census

The bureau’s initial efforts to count by phone and online have gone well—about 38% of households have already responded. But that leaves out a big chunk of the population. And social distancing measures are making life more difficult for the bureau’s hundreds of thousands of deputies deployed to reach those who haven’t responded yet. 

Some experts say those “field operations” may be able to forge ahead, so long as counters keep a responsible distance. But census procrastinators may simply not open the door.

• Social distancing measures have also slowed responses from bureau call-in centers that normally help people through the process. 
• And a series of public gatherings intended to drum up awareness is now a no-go.  

Bottom line: All that may be discouraging, but the census has faced challenges before. “We can take heart that even a census in 1940 that faced significant delays—one that depended entirely on human census-takers who completed the count by hand (without computers)—still managed to meet an even shorter deadline than the 2020 census faces,” historian Dan Bouk writes in The Hill. 

TOP 10

The Top 10 is our team's favorite reads from the last week-ish.

1. Tfw ur in lockdown: How the “museum world’s king of memes” is making us giggle during a tough time (NYT). 
2. This is how they win: What the jewelry business is actually like (Bookforum). 
3. Students from UPenn to UCLA are remotely rebuilding their schools in Minecraft (The Verge). 
4. Modern life can be lonely. These books explore why (The New Yorker). 
5. An investigation found that in 40 years, less than 10% of plastic has been recycled (NPR). 
6. Steve LeVine argues that, barring a coronavirus vaccine, we’re in a depression, not a recession (Marker). 
7. If you have more than one partner, which do you quarantine with? (The Guardian). 
8. When world leaders can’t meet in person, we’re all less safe (Nikkei Asian Review). 
9. Crisis Text Line has observed interesting trends in demand for mental health services (Axios). 
10. Isolation tips from the sole full-time resident of Gothic, CO (NPR).

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Sometimes advertising is hard. This is not one of those times. We’re selling you ready-to-eat-or-bake cookie dough called Doughp. 

In fact, they sent the team some to try that we were supposed to share with our significant others, but they all took showers or walked the dog at the wrong time and we can’t be held accountable for what happens when there’s cookie dough in the house.

We know we like to joke, but in all honesty, we’d just like to say to Doughp’s founder and culinary genius, Kelsey, “Bless you.” And we’re not just saying that because this stuff tastes like what it feels like to high-five a million puppies; Doughp also donates 1% of sales to a nonprofit that provides affordable mental health care and substance abuse treatment.

Doughp is, unsurprisingly, shipping thousands of boxes of this deliciousness every week, and if that’s not the definition of “fun mail,” we don’t know what is. 

Order your box today, and maybe send our loved ones some so they don’t leave us.

MAIL BAG

In the Mail Bag, we answer reader questions on anything from cold brew preferences to economic theory.

Reader Q: What has the economy learned from the 2008 recession that will help us get through the one we are witnessing?

Eliza’s A: 

First, I think the government’s rescue package showed the main takeaway from 2008: Don’t bail out big institutions while neglecting workers. I think our leaders in Congress knew the 2008 bailout left a pretty awful taste in our mouths—I was 17 at the time and even I’m still mad at Hank Paulson. So this time around, Congress accordingly made provisions for everyday people, to the tune of $350 billion for small businesses, independent contractors, and the self-employed. 

Second, this crisis is even more global than 2008, since globalization has only ramped up since then. The U.S. or any other country alone can’t claw its way out without cooperation across borders. Remember that coordinated worldwide rate cut? We need that kind of energy if we’re going to tackle this pandemic. 

One important difference between 2008 and the current crisis: This time, it’s centered on small businesses, not financial behemoths. 

Got another question? Let us know here.