FIBOIND_ — Need a better representation for general economic indicators

The current representation of economic indicator is underspecified, and needs to include reference and reporting periods, at a minimum. Definitions for statistical universe, statistical population in the context of a statistical program are also required, to provide the context for a given indicator, with revisions to the definitions of specific indicators, such as unemployment rate, that leverage this more general pattern.

Need a better representation for general economic indicators

The current representation of economic indicator is underspecified, and needs to include reference and reporting periods, at a minimum. Definitions for statistical universe, statistical population in the context of a statistical program are also required, to provide the context for a given indicator, with revisions to the definitions of specific indicators, such as unemployment rate, that leverage this more general pattern.

This issue applies to Section 9.5.1, Ontology: Economic Indicators and Section 9.5.2, Ontology: Economic Indicator Publishers in the IND specification and its resolution depends on the resolution of FIBOIND-6 and FIBOIND-22 as well as on the resolution to the issues resolved by the FIBO FBC FTF concurrently. It involves extensive revision to the definitions for economic indicator generally and to the definitions for a number of specific indicators, as well as the introduction of a number of new classes, based on FTF work supported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and Statistics Canada, who publish these indicators over the course of the FTF 2 and 3 working groups. The resulting ontologies are currently in test and our goal over the course of the RTF is to continue to refine them to the point that they can be used for mark-up by the statistics agencies for publication purposes. The FTF believes that the top level economic indicator definition that has come out of this effort is now sufficient for that purpose as well as to support analysis and definition of economic derivatives as needed for other FIBO specifications.

The resolution to this issue also incorporates two small ontologies that are intended to be expanded over time, representing customization of the primary Economic Indicators ontology for the United States and Canada.

Note that the tables in the specification are also replaced with the resolution to this issue, to clean them up at the same time to reflect the current documentation approach for FIBO. Also, because this work is still under FTF rather than RTF, any deprecated terms or properties are being eliminated to clean things up prior to formalization.