---
title: "Data Feed: Congress’s productivity, e-reading rises, alternative degree education"
description: "A daily roundup of fresh data from scholars, governments, think tanks, pollsters and other social science researchers. Politics Congress might be more productive and less partisan than you think, Sunlight Foundation Our politics may be polarized, but that’s nothing new, The Washington Post Are Christie’s political plans bottlenecked? With topline, NBC News/ Marist Poll Ads attacking health […]"
date: "2014-01-16"
authors:
  - name: "George Gao"
    job_title: "Former "
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/george-gao/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2014/01/16/data-feed-productive-congress-non-degree-education-e-reading-rises/"
---

# Data Feed: Congress’s productivity, e-reading rises, alternative degree education

*A daily roundup of fresh data from scholars, governments, think tanks, pollsters and other social science researchers.*

**Politics** [Congress might be more productive and less partisan than you think](http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2014/01/16/congress-in-2013/), Sunlight Foundation [Our politics may be polarized, but that’s nothing new](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/01/16/our-politics-may-be-polarized-but-thats-nothing-new/), The Washington Post [Are Christie’s political plans bottlenecked?](http://maristpoll.marist.edu/115-are-new-jersey-governor-chris-christies-political-plans-bottlenecked/) With [topline](http://maristpoll.marist.edu/wp-content/misc/usapolls/us140112/Christie/Complete%20January%2015,%202014%20USA%20NBC%20News_Marist%20Poll%20Release%20and%20Tables.pdf), NBC News/ Marist Poll [Ads attacking health laws stagger outspent Democrats](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/us/politics/ads-attacking-on-health-law-stagger-outspent-democrats.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0), The New York Times [Prosecutorial discretion closures continue unabated in immigration courts](http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/339/), TRAC Syracuse

**Economy** [Minority women downsize their ambitions due to bias](http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/01/minority-women-report-downsizing-their-ambitions-because-of-bias/?utm_source=Socialflow&utm_medium=Tweet&utm_campaign=Socialflow), Catalyst via Harvard Business Review [Paper or plastic? How Americans buy stuff](http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/01/14/262502269/paper-or-plastic-how-americans-buy-stuff-in-1-graph), NPR [More Americans say they’re worse off financially than a year ago](http://www.gallup.com/poll/166850/americans-worse-off-financially-year-ago.aspx), Gallup [Bankers’ stock awards jet higher](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304419104579322690436437758), The Wall Street Journal [Beige book on current economic conditions](http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/beigebook/files/Beigebook_20140115.pdf), Federal Reserve [Real average earnings fall 0.3%](http://www.bls.gov/news.release/realer.nr0.htm); and [CPI increases 0.3%](http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm), Bureau of Labor Statistics

**Health & Society** [E-reading rises as device ownership jumps](http://pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/internet/Reports/2014/E-Reading-Update.aspx), Pew Research Center [One-quarter of adults hold educational credentials other than degree](http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/education/cb14-10.html), Census [Adult illicit drug users are more likely to consider suicide](http://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/advisories/1401154912.aspx), Health and Human Services [How much to deliver a baby? Charges vary widely by hospital](http://capsules.kaiserhealthnews.org/index.php/2014/01/how-much-to-deliver-a-baby-charges-vary-widely-by-hospital/), Kaiser Health News [Gender gaps in cardiovascular disease and diabetes care](http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR539.html), Rand Corporation

**International** [40 charts that explain the world](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/01/15/40-charts-that-explain-the-world/), The Washington Post [Global risks 2014 report](http://reports.weforum.org/global-risks-2014/), World Economic Forum [Web of Libor manipulation scandal’s 298 reported connections](http://graphics.wsj.com/libor-network/), The Wall Street Journal [Euro area annual inflation down to 0.8%](http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/2-16012014-AP/EN/2-16012014-AP-EN.PDF), Eurostat [A brief history of 63 years of extreme weather](http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/01/brief-history-63-years-weather-extremes/357047/), The Wire [U.S. among countries without paid maternity leave](http://qz.com/167163/countries-without-paid-maternity-leave-swaziland-lesotho-papua-new-guinea-and-the-united-states-of-america/), Quartz [Where the world’s biggest coffee drinkers live](http://qz.com/166983/where-the-worlds-biggest-coffee-drinkers-live/), Quartz [100 years since WWI: Numbers show what’s changed](http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/jan/16/100-years-since-ww1-numbers-change-photographs), Guardian

**Random Sample** [Famous movie quotes as charts](http://flowingdata.com/famous-movie-quotes-as-charts/), FlowingData

[![FT_data-movie-quotes](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2014/01/FT_data-movie-quotes.png)](http://flowingdata.com/famous-movie-quotes-as-charts/)

*Got new data to share? Send it to us via email *[*facttank@pewresearch.org*](mailto:facttank@pewresearch.org)* or Tweet us *[*@FactTank*](http://www.twitter.com/facttank)*.*