ABSTRACT
Crime nose-dives. Poverty soars. Teenage pregnancy declines. Unemployment goes down. Childhood asthma is an epidemic. Executive compensation skyrockets. The number ofdriving-while-drunk convictions increases. Prevalence of child abuse remains constant. These are among the many statements about crime, health, poverty, employment, and the myriad other social phenomena which affect our daily lives. But these statements are without substantive meaning unless supported by statistics.
