Data haves and have nots: for many of the most important indicators, we don't even keep score in more than half the state.

• Author: Barkey, Patrick M.
• Position: INDIANA INDICATORS

THERE WAS A TIME IN this country when the cities had electricity and the countryside did not. This side-by-side existence of two lifestyles--one filled with leisure and convenience, another with endless drudgery and work--ultimately shamed the federal government to subsidize rural electrification and turn lights on in the country that had been burning in cities for several decades.

That same situation exists today for broadband Internet, and its implications for economic development have already motivated many communities to pursue plans to promote, if not subsidize, infrastructure improvements to give their citizens what those in urban areas have been enjoying for years.

But there's another aspect of living outside the state's most urbanized areas that is less well known but has important implications for their economic future. That is that the data on the economies in the country is poorer than the cities. When it comes to knowing how the economy is performing, what industries are growing and which are shrinking, or even how many people have jobs, the data for the state's 51 non-metropolitan-area counties are frustratingly incomplete and out of date.

That's not a slam on the hardworking folks at the various Indiana agencies who compile and report what we have. Indeed, the situation here is virtually the same as every other state in the country. That reflects the fact that most of the data gathering for the states and regions is funded by the federal government, even if it is reported by state agencies.

That's not a bad thing, since federal standards assure the quality and consistency of what is reported. But for a less urbanized state like Indiana, it has perpetuated a situation where, for many of the most important economic indicators, we don't even keep score in more than half the state.

What is even more frustrating is that the situation may soon be getting worse. The granddaddy of all data series, the decennial Census, has always been an equal-opportunity gatherer of information. The so-called long-form Census, distributed to one out of every five American households every 10 years, gives just as much information about the economy of Elwood as it does about Indianapolis. In fact, households in sparsely populated areas are sampled with the more detailed long form more intensely than their urban counterparts, so that statistically valid statements can be made.

But the long form is almost certainly coming to an end. Apparently the...