The author says the united states census is more than just a count of the nations population. you can reasonably infer that she means the census also

The banking act of 1933, also known as the glass-steagall act, established the federal deposit insurance corporation (fdic), which a protected banks from failure by ensuring that the government would bail them out if necessary. b required american taxpayers to establish an account with a commercial bank. c protected depositors from financial losses when banks failed.