They were run by brilliant quantitative economists, with models derived from statistics dating back decades.

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Pentagon officials said they would not discuss how the statistics were derived because of security concerns that such information could give clues to how U.S. intelligence officers collect their data.

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Our job-growth metric, derived from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Moody's Economy.com estimates, analyzes the growth over a five-year period.

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Crash tests and accident statistics, he tells us, indicate that these Jeep-derived vehicles have a kill rate at least three times higher than cars.

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Admittedly, the ADP report comes from a much smaller subset of data derived 500, 000 business employing over 21 million workers, while the government statistics aim to encompass the entire workforce.

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These firms supply compensation committees with the statistics that help to justify juicy pay packages--and much of their data are derived from the U.S., where executive pay tends to be highest.

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