Accuracy of the 1990 census and undercount adjustments

"In July 1991 the [U.S.] Census Bureau recommended to its parent agency, the Department of Commerce, that the 1990 census be adjusted for undercount. The Secretary of Commerce decided not to adjust, however. Those decisions relied at least partly on the Census Bureau's analyses of the accuracy of the census and of the proposed undercount adjustments based on the Post-Enumeration Survey (PES).... This article describes the total error analysis and loss function analysis of the Census Bureau. In its decision not to adjust the census, the Department of Commerce cited different criteria than aggregate loss functions. Those criteria are identified and discussed."