Visualizing the structure and inkages in the Jamaican economy using National Statistics (Administrative Data)

Caribbean Open Institute

Several important data sources, collected for the purposes of official statistics, could be of value in re-use by businesses, media, analysts and academics. However these data sources are often not readily accessible or comprehensible by non-statisticians. For instance, data used to produce the Input/Output Tables are collected on a regular basis by STATIN but these tables are only produced periodically (~ every 5 years after the economy has been rebased) because of the resource effort required to conduct this activity on a continuous basis.

The specific goal to be addressed by this initiative is to enhance the visibility, relevance, re-use and utility of national statistics and related data in data-driven engagement/assessment and policy/decision-making, with a specific focus on the Input-Output Table and other related Administrative data.

The sectors of the economy are all linked together as portions of the output in one sector is consumed in another. The Input-Output (IO) Table analyses the Jamaican economy by showing the value of goods and service that are produced within each sector and how much of that which is produced is consumed locally in production and by consumers and that which is exported. The table also distributes the total import bill to the various sectors of the economy. Other “Supply and Use tables” collected from surveys and administrative sources, such as Labour Force, Education, Census, Housing and Trade collectively reflect the structural dynamics of the Jamaican economy. However much of this statistical information only presented as tabular data in a highly aggregated format, and in some cases and is only produced periodically (eg. the last I/O Table was produced in 2007).
Making this source data openly accessible and combined with visualization techniques can make this information much more impactful, accessible and with greater utility for business decision-makers and policy makers. This initiative will use these various sources of statistical data to create a visual map representation of the structural dynamics of the Jamaican economy that enhances the visibility and utility of this data and also creates additional re-use opportunities for other innovators through open APIs.
The Initiative will also explore the potential of big data" sources such as anonymized electricity consumption and mobile traffic / location data as a basis for proxy indicators to augment official statistics.

Jamaica

November 1, 2015

Official Statistics: All data sources that feed into the Input–Output Table (to be identified)

Open_Data_Initiatives__Official_Statistics__IO_Table.pdf