Data Privacy Protection and the Conduct of Applied Research

A necessary exploration into the mechanics of data privacy protections within empirical social science research.

The explosion of computational power and data availability has revolutionized empirical social science research, but it has also created unprecedented challenges for protecting the privacy of individuals and businesses. As computational tools make it increasingly possible to breach data anonymity in government surveys by combining the survey data with additional information from external sources, statistical agencies face mounting pressure to develop new privacy protection methods while maintaining data quality essential for research and policymaking. This volume explores how innovations in data privacy protection, including differential privacy and synthetic data methods, affect the conduct of empirical analysis in economics, computer science, and statistics. Contributors explore critical questions about the trade-offs between privacy and data usability: How do new protection methods impact statistical inference and parameter estimation? What standards should data providers adopt? The chapters examine frameworks for characterizing privacy protection, disclosure limitation challenges for survey data, methodological innovations for privacy-preserving statistical analysis, regulatory considerations in modern data governance, and strategies for balancing confidentiality with research access.

This volume provides researchers, statistical agencies, and policymakers with essential guidance for navigating the complex landscape where data protection meets scientific inquiry.

Ruobin Gong is an associate professor of statistics at Rutgers University. V. Joseph Hotz is research professor at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Economics & Public Policy at Duke University, and a research associate of the NBER. Ian M. Schmutte is a principal economist with People eXperience & Technology at Amazon, having previously served as professor of economics at the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.