{ "name": "Warconomy FAQ by caveat", "asOf": "2026-06-05", "note": "Every page-specific FAQ regrouped by the standing caveat it addresses. Deterministic grouping over committed FAQ content; not real-time, partial coverage.", "page": "https://warconomy.com/faq/caveats", "caveatsPage": "https://warconomy.com/caveats", "groupCount": 9, "itemCount": 93, "groups": [ { "id": "not-real-time", "label": "Not real-time", "description": "Whether figures are a live feed.", "items": [ { "path": "/defense/comparison", "question": "Are these figures real-time?", "answer": "No. They are annual SIPRI/NATO estimates, manually transcribed as source-linked static values with an as-of and review date, and may be revised in future SIPRI releases." }, { "path": "/", "question": "What is Warconomy?", "answer": "A data-first economic-impact reference: source-linked indicators for the economic impact of wars, sanctions, chokepoints, defense spending, and reconstruction. It is not a news site, not real-time, and not legal or compliance advice." }, { "path": "/", "question": "Is Warconomy real-time?", "answer": "No. Every value is a manually maintained, source-linked static figure with an as-of date and a review date. Coverage is partial; sample rows are clearly labeled." }, { "path": "/economic-impact", "question": "Is the data real-time?", "answer": "No. Every value is a manually maintained, source-linked static figure with an as-of date and a review date. Coverage is partial." }, { "path": "/economic-impact", "question": "What does live / static mean?", "answer": "A live/static value is genuinely sourced and manually transcribed from a cited public source, with an as-of and a last-reviewed date. It is citeable as a source-reported value, but it is not real-time or automatically updated." }, { "path": "/topics", "question": "Is coverage complete?", "answer": "No — coverage is partial and not real-time. Quantitative values are source-linked, and sample rows are clearly labeled and must not be cited as current data." }, { "path": "/dashboards", "question": "Are dashboards source-linked?", "answer": "Yes. Dashboards are derived roll-ups; every figure resolves to a source-linked topic or source page. They are partial, manually maintained, and not real-time." }, { "path": "/chokepoints/dashboard", "question": "Is this a live shipping tracker?", "answer": "No — it is not real-time and not a live vessel tracker. The Red Sea figures are dated historical snapshots that read stale by design." }, { "path": "/conflicts/dashboard", "question": "Are reconstruction figures final?", "answer": "No — reconstruction and macro estimates are decade-horizon figures that institutions periodically revise. They are not real-time." }, { "path": "/methodology", "question": "What is out of scope?", "answer": "Scraping, scheduled jobs, runtime APIs, paid data, real-time tracking, legal/compliance advice, and causal-attribution modeling." }, { "path": "/data-coverage", "question": "Is coverage complete?", "answer": "No. Coverage is partial and not real-time; this page shows exactly how much is source-linked live data versus labeled sample rows." }, { "path": "/data-review", "question": "What is the data review queue?", "answer": "A deterministic list of which source-linked values to re-check next, with recommended-review-by dates derived from each source's cadence. It is review status, not real-time monitoring." }, { "path": "/sources", "question": "Are values fetched live from these sources?", "answer": "No. Values are manually transcribed static fixtures from the publishers' own pages — not real-time and not automatically updated." }, { "path": "/datasets/conflict-economic-impact", "question": "Is the export real-time?", "answer": "No. It is a static, manually maintained JSON file with a version and an as-of reference date; it is regenerated by hand when values are refreshed." }, { "path": "/sanctions/russia-energy-trade/economic-impact", "question": "Is the data real-time?", "answer": "No — values are manually maintained, source-linked static figures with as-of and review dates." }, { "path": "/sanctions/shadow-fleet-shipping-insurance/economic-impact", "question": "Is this a live vessel tracker?", "answer": "No — it is not real-time and not maritime intelligence. Vessel counts are dated as of specific sanctions packages or actions." }, { "path": "/chokepoints/strait-of-hormuz/economic-impact", "question": "Is the Brent price real-time?", "answer": "No — it is a manually maintained monthly average from the EIA, not a live quote." }, { "path": "/chokepoints/red-sea-shipping/economic-impact", "question": "Are the Red Sea figures current?", "answer": "No — they are dated historical snapshots from the acute disruption phase (UNCTAD/IMF, 2024). They remain source-linked but read stale; they are not real-time." }, { "path": "/chokepoints/red-sea-shipping/economic-impact", "question": "Is this a live shipping tracker?", "answer": "No. Warconomy is not a live vessel or freight tracker; shipping metrics (transits, container transits, trade volume, revenue) are not interchangeable." }, { "path": "/chokepoints/panama-canal/economic-impact", "question": "Is the canal data real-time?", "answer": "No. The transit and revenue figures are official Panama Canal Authority FY2024 annuals, and the oil-transit figures are EIA quarterly snapshots (1Q–2Q 2025). They are manually maintained and not a live tracker." }, { "path": "/chokepoints/strait-of-malacca/economic-impact", "question": "Is this a live shipping tracker?", "answer": "No. The figures are dated EIA quarterly snapshots, not real-time, and oil-transit volume is only one of several ways to measure the strait." }, { "path": "/chokepoints/bab-el-mandeb/economic-impact", "question": "Why have flows through Bab el-Mandeb dropped?", "answer": "Red Sea security disruption since late 2023 has diverted many tankers around the Cape of Good Hope. The EIA estimates oil transit fell to about 3.7 million b/d (1Q2025) and 4.3 million b/d (2Q2025). These are dated snapshots, not real-time." }, { "path": "/chokepoints/turkish-straits/economic-impact", "question": "Is this a live vessel tracker?", "answer": "No. The figures are dated EIA quarterly snapshots, not real-time, and this is an economic-impact reference, not legal or compliance advice on sanctions." }, { "path": "/chokepoints/danish-straits/economic-impact", "question": "Is this real-time or legal advice?", "answer": "Neither. The figures are dated EIA quarterly snapshots, not real-time, and this is an economic-impact reference, not legal or compliance advice." }, { "path": "/commodities/oil-benchmarks/economic-impact", "question": "Is this the same as the Strait of Hormuz Brent figure?", "answer": "Related but distinct: this page uses an EIA daily spot value, while the Strait of Hormuz page tracks a monthly Brent average. A daily spot differs from a monthly average; neither is real-time." }, { "path": "/commodities/natural-gas/economic-impact", "question": "Is this real-time?", "answer": "No. The values are manually maintained monthly EIA snapshots. Gas prices reflect weather, storage, and LNG flows as well as geopolitics, so they are tracked as benchmarks, not causal attributions." }, { "path": "/commodities/food-prices/economic-impact", "question": "Is this real-time?", "answer": "No. The values are manually maintained monthly FAO snapshots and may be revised. The same index also appears on the Russia–Ukraine page in its food-channel context." }, { "path": "/commodities/dashboard", "question": "What does the commodities dashboard cover?", "answer": "A cross-topic overview of oil benchmarks (Brent & WTI), natural gas (Henry Hub), and food prices (FAO Food Price Index and sub-indices), with source-linked indicators, coverage, and review status. Partial coverage, not real-time." } ] }, { "id": "sample-vs-live", "label": "Sample vs live", "description": "Which values are illustrative and which are sourced.", "items": [ { "path": "/", "question": "Where should I start?", "answer": "See /topics for every canonical page, /dashboards for cross-topic overviews, or jump to the sanctions, chokepoints, or conflicts dashboards. /data-coverage shows what is live versus sample." }, { "path": "/economic-impact", "question": "What does sample mean?", "answer": "A sample row is an illustrative placeholder used to demonstrate structure. It is always labeled in the UI and must never be cited as current or measured." }, { "path": "/data-coverage", "question": "What is the difference between live and sample rows?", "answer": "Live/static rows are genuinely sourced, manually maintained values with an as-of and review date. Sample rows are clearly labeled placeholders and must not be cited as current or measured data." } ] }, { "id": "partial-coverage", "label": "Partial coverage", "description": "What is and isn't covered.", "items": [ { "path": "/defense/comparison", "question": "Is this a complete ranking of military spending?", "answer": "No. Warconomy source-links only the top three spenders and the world total; the full top-10 and regional totals are listed as data needs because they are not directly text-verifiable from the accessible SIPRI fact sheet. Coverage is partial." }, { "path": "/economic-impact", "question": "Is Warconomy a news site?", "answer": "No. Warconomy is a data-first, source-linked economic-impact reference designed to be cited — not a news feed and not narrative coverage." }, { "path": "/topics", "question": "How is Warconomy's coverage organized?", "answer": "Into canonical topic pages (conflicts, chokepoints, sanctions), category dashboards that roll those up, data dashboards, and a machine-readable dataset. This index lists every canonical page by category." }, { "path": "/dashboards", "question": "What is the dashboards hub?", "answer": "A single index of Warconomy's overview surfaces: category dashboards (sanctions, chokepoints, conflicts), data dashboards, trust surfaces (coverage, review), the source registry, and the dataset." }, { "path": "/sanctions/dashboard", "question": "What is the economic impact of sanctions on Russia?", "answer": "Warconomy tracks it through source-linked indicators across energy-trade price caps, the oil shadow fleet, frozen assets / Ukraine financing, and secondary-sanctions enforcement. Coverage is partial and source-linked." }, { "path": "/sanctions/dashboard", "question": "Is this legal or compliance advice?", "answer": "No. This is an economic-impact reference, not legal or compliance advice, and not a complete map of any sanctions regime." }, { "path": "/conflicts/dashboard", "question": "What is the economic impact of the Russia–Ukraine war?", "answer": "Warconomy tracks source-linked indicators for reconstruction needs and food/commodity prices, alongside the energy and sanctions channels covered elsewhere. Coverage is partial." }, { "path": "/datasets/conflict-economic-impact", "question": "What is in the dataset export?", "answer": "Enriched observations, sources, source-linked facts, policy thresholds, the sanctions block, dashboardHub, topicIndex, per-category review, and coverage/review summaries — plus a citation graph at graph.json." }, { "path": "/sanctions/secondary-sanctions-circumvention/economic-impact", "question": "Is this legal or compliance advice?", "answer": "No. It is an economic-impact reference, not legal or compliance advice, and not a complete enforcement database." }, { "path": "/transmission-map", "question": "Is coverage complete?", "answer": "No. Coverage is partial and not every channel or linkage is represented. Every channel resolves to source-linked figures via the trust surfaces." } ] }, { "id": "causality", "label": "Causality", "description": "Whether a figure attributes cause.", "items": [ { "path": "/defense/comparison", "question": "Does higher military spending mean more military activity?", "answer": "No. Military expenditure is an annual budget measure — it is not the same as procurement, military aid, or battlefield activity, and these figures are levels and direction only, not a causal attribution." }, { "path": "/chokepoints/dashboard", "question": "Are price moves attributed to chokepoint events?", "answer": "No. Benchmarks are tracked alongside risk; linkages are associative, not a causal attribution." }, { "path": "/methodology", "question": "What does 'stale' mean?", "answer": "Stale is a review status — a re-check is recommended before citing the value as current context. It does not mean the value is wrong; many stale rows are valid historical snapshots." }, { "path": "/data-coverage", "question": "Does 'stale' mean the data is wrong?", "answer": "No. Stale is a review signal based on each source's cadence — it means a re-check is recommended, not that the value is incorrect." }, { "path": "/data-review", "question": "Does stale mean the figure is false?", "answer": "No. Stale means a manual re-check is recommended before citing the value as current context; dated policy effective dates and event snapshots read stale by design." }, { "path": "/chokepoints/strait-of-hormuz/economic-impact", "question": "Why does the Strait of Hormuz matter to the economy?", "answer": "It is the world's most important oil-transit chokepoint; perceived transit risk is tracked alongside crude benchmark prices. Linkages are associative, not a causal attribution." }, { "path": "/commodities/oil-benchmarks/economic-impact", "question": "What are Brent and WTI?", "answer": "Brent is the international waterborne crude benchmark; WTI is the U.S. (Cushing) benchmark. The EIA reported Brent spot at US$92.88/bbl and WTI at US$91.16/bbl on 29 May 2026. They are market benchmarks, not causal attributions." }, { "path": "/commodities/oil-benchmarks/economic-impact", "question": "Does this prove a war caused a price move?", "answer": "No. Oil prices reflect supply, demand, OPEC+ decisions, inventories, and the dollar. Warconomy tracks benchmarks alongside risk and does not attribute a move to a single event unless the source does." }, { "path": "/commodities/food-prices/economic-impact", "question": "Did the Russia–Ukraine war cause these prices?", "answer": "Cereals and vegetable oils are the sub-indices most exposed to the Black Sea / Ukraine channel, but prices reflect many factors. Warconomy tracks the indices alongside the food channel, not as a causal attribution." }, { "path": "/commodities/dashboard", "question": "Are these prices attributed to wars or sanctions?", "answer": "No. Commodity prices are market benchmarks tracked alongside conflict, sanctions, and chokepoint risk — not causal attributions. Prices reflect many factors." }, { "path": "/data-maintenance", "question": "What does stale mean here?", "answer": "Stale means a manual review is recommended before citing a value as current context — not that the value is wrong. Dated historical snapshots (e.g. EIA quarterly chokepoint flows) can remain valid while reading stale." }, { "path": "/source-quality", "question": "What does source readiness mean?", "answer": "It is a derived label (high/medium/low) describing how directly a source backs a maintained value — based on authority, citation role, deep-linking, and review metadata. It explains why a source is trusted, not whether a value is correct." }, { "path": "/transmission-map", "question": "Does the map show causation?", "answer": "No. It is a relationship map derived from how Warconomy's data links together. A connection means 'tracked alongside', not 'caused by' — it is not a causal-attribution model." }, { "path": "/conflicts/russia-ukraine/economic-impact", "question": "Is the FAO index a measure of war damage?", "answer": "No — it is a global food-commodity benchmark tracked alongside the food channel, not a causal attribution to the war." } ] }, { "id": "legal-compliance", "label": "Legal / compliance", "description": "Why this is not legal or compliance advice.", "items": [ { "path": "/economic-impact", "question": "What is the best page for sanctions questions?", "answer": "The sanctions dashboard (/sanctions/dashboard) is the cross-topic overview; individual figures live on the energy-trade, shadow-fleet, frozen-assets, and circumvention topic pages. It is an economic-impact reference, not legal or compliance advice." }, { "path": "/sanctions/russia-energy-trade/economic-impact", "question": "Is this legal or compliance advice?", "answer": "No. This is an economic-impact reference, not legal or compliance advice." }, { "path": "/sanctions/shadow-fleet-shipping-insurance/economic-impact", "question": "Is this legal or compliance advice?", "answer": "No. It is an economic-impact reference, not legal or compliance advice." }, { "path": "/sanctions/frozen-russian-assets-ukraine-financing/economic-impact", "question": "Is this legal or compliance advice?", "answer": "No. It is an economic-impact reference, not legal or compliance advice, and not a tracker of legal proceedings." } ] }, { "id": "provenance-versioning", "label": "Provenance & versioning", "description": "How values are sourced, frozen, and diffed.", "items": [ { "path": "/sanctions/dashboard", "question": "Are the price caps market prices?", "answer": "No — price caps are policy thresholds, not market prices, and the EU and U.S./G7 caps differ by jurisdiction." }, { "path": "/chokepoints/dashboard", "question": "How do chokepoints affect the economy?", "answer": "Through energy benchmarks (e.g. Brent), shipping-transit disruption (Suez/Red Sea), route diversion, and freight costs. Warconomy tracks these with source-linked indicators." }, { "path": "/methodology", "question": "How is freshness computed without a live clock?", "answer": "Deterministically, against a curated reference date (site.dataAsOf), never the runtime clock — so the static build and tests stay reproducible." }, { "path": "/sanctions/russia-energy-trade/economic-impact", "question": "Are the EU and U.S./G7 oil price caps the same?", "answer": "No. They differ by jurisdiction — the U.S./G7 coalition cap and the EU's lower dynamic cap are tracked as separate source-linked policy thresholds, not market prices." }, { "path": "/sanctions/frozen-russian-assets-ukraine-financing/economic-impact", "question": "Are the frozen assets confiscated?", "answer": "No — they are immobilized, not confiscated. The principal is distinct from the windfall proceeds used to repay G7/EU loans to Ukraine." }, { "path": "/sanctions/frozen-russian-assets-ukraine-financing/economic-impact", "question": "Why do EU and worldwide figures differ?", "answer": "EU-only figures (about €210bn) are a subset of the worldwide total (about €260bn). Principal, proceeds, committed loans, and disbursements are all distinct." }, { "path": "/sanctions/secondary-sanctions-circumvention/economic-impact", "question": "Are entity counts comparable across jurisdictions?", "answer": "No. EU listings, OFAC designations, and BIS Entity List additions use different scopes; the counts here are per-package snapshots, not cumulative or cross-jurisdiction comparable." }, { "path": "/chokepoints/bab-el-mandeb/economic-impact", "question": "How is Bab el-Mandeb different from the Red Sea page?", "answer": "This page focuses on oil and energy transit through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait (EIA figures), while the Red Sea page covers container-shipping and Suez transit disruption (UNCTAD/IMF). They are kept distinct to avoid duplication." }, { "path": "/commodities/natural-gas/economic-impact", "question": "Which natural gas price does Warconomy track?", "answer": "The U.S. Henry Hub benchmark: EIA reported US$2.94/MMBtu in May 2026, up from US$2.77 in April 2026. European (TTF) and Asian (JKM) gas prices can move very differently and are not captured here." }, { "path": "/chokepoints/rankings", "question": "How are chokepoints ranked?", "answer": "By a single comparable EIA metric — crude oil and petroleum-liquids transit volume — for the latest comparable quarter (2Q2025). Vessel transits, tonnage, and price benchmarks are different measures and are not mixed in." } ] }, { "id": "source-limits", "label": "Source limits", "description": "When a value can't be directly verified from a source.", "items": [ { "path": "/defense/comparison", "question": "How do the top military spenders compare in 2025?", "answer": "By SIPRI's 2025 estimate the United States (US$954bn), China (US$336bn), and Russia (US$190bn) are the three largest spenders, together about 51% of the world total of US$2,887bn. Only this single comparable SIPRI country metric (same year, same unit, same source) is ranked." }, { "path": "/economic-impact", "question": "How should I cite a Warconomy page?", "answer": "Cite a category dashboard for an overview, a topic or source page for an individual figure, and the JSON export or citation graph for machine-readable references. Every figure links to its underlying source." }, { "path": "/economic-impact", "question": "Where is the machine-readable data?", "answer": "At /datasets/conflict-economic-impact/data.json, with a deterministic citation graph at graph.json. The export includes observations, sources, policy thresholds, the sanctions block, source quality, an FAQ index, and this query hub." }, { "path": "/economic-impact", "question": "How does Warconomy choose sources?", "answer": "Official and intergovernmental publishers are the source of record; authoritative research is used at medium confidence. News summaries and inaccessible/paywalled charts are not used as the source of record. Each source carries a citation-readiness label." }, { "path": "/topics", "question": "Topic page or dashboard — which should I cite?", "answer": "Cite a category dashboard for a cross-topic overview and a topic page for an individual figure. Each figure links to its underlying source." }, { "path": "/methodology", "question": "What counts as a source of record?", "answer": "Official and intergovernmental publishers first; authoritative research (e.g. CREA, KSE) at medium confidence. News summaries and inaccessible/paywalled charts are not used as the source of record for live observations." }, { "path": "/sources", "question": "Where does Warconomy's data come from?", "answer": "Official and intergovernmental publishers (EIA, SIPRI, NATO, UNCTAD, IMF, the European Commission, the U.S. Treasury) and authoritative research (CREA). Every public source is listed here with a per-source detail page." }, { "path": "/sources", "question": "What is citation readiness?", "answer": "A derived label (high/medium/low) summarizing a source's authority, role, and how directly it backs a maintained value — to help cite the strongest source for each figure." }, { "path": "/sanctions/shadow-fleet-shipping-insurance/economic-impact", "question": "What is the shadow fleet?", "answer": "Ageing tankers with opaque ownership and non-Western insurance that carry Russian oil outside G7 maritime services. Warconomy tracks source-linked vessel-listing and export-share indicators." }, { "path": "/sanctions/secondary-sanctions-circumvention/economic-impact", "question": "What are secondary sanctions?", "answer": "Measures that reach beyond Russia to the third-country firms and intermediaries that re-route restricted goods or finance. Warconomy tracks source-linked enforcement and export-control indicators." }, { "path": "/data-maintenance", "question": "Does Warconomy auto-refresh its data?", "answer": "No. Warconomy is manually maintained and static — there is no scraping, no scheduled jobs, and no runtime API calls. This page lists which source-linked values are due for a manual re-check, grouped by source cadence." }, { "path": "/data-maintenance", "question": "How are quarterly rows handled?", "answer": "Quarterly sources such as the EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook chokepoint table use the irregular ('unknown') cadence bucket and are flagged for periodic review or appending the next period when the source updates." }, { "path": "/source-quality", "question": "How is readiness scored?", "answer": "Deterministically from each source's type, cadence, URL, and how it is used (live observations vs facts). There are no manual scores. Official publishers backing a live deep-linked value rank highest." }, { "path": "/conflicts/russia-ukraine/economic-impact", "question": "How does the war affect the global economy?", "answer": "Mainly through energy, food, and trade channels, plus large reconstruction needs. Warconomy tracks source-linked indicators (e.g. the RDNA4 reconstruction need and the FAO Food Price Index) rather than battlefield narrative." } ] }, { "id": "static-api", "label": "Static API (no runtime API)", "description": "How to consume the static machine endpoints.", "items": [ { "path": "/", "question": "Is the data machine-readable?", "answer": "Yes. Every page carries JSON-LD, and the full dataset is exported as static JSON at /datasets/conflict-economic-impact/data.json with a citation graph at graph.json." }, { "path": "/dashboards", "question": "Where is the machine-readable data?", "answer": "At /datasets/conflict-economic-impact/data.json, with a citation graph at graph.json. The export includes policy thresholds, the sanctions block, dashboardHub, topicIndex, and per-category review." } ] }, { "id": "general", "label": "General", "description": "Other recurring questions.", "items": [ { "path": "/conflicts/dashboard", "question": "Does Warconomy publish casualty figures?", "answer": "No. Warconomy focuses on economic impact and does not publish casualty or battlefield estimates." }, { "path": "/data-review", "question": "What does category review show?", "answer": "The same sitewide queue grouped by category (sanctions, conflicts, chokepoints, dashboards). Category counts reconcile with the sitewide totals." }, { "path": "/chokepoints/panama-canal/economic-impact", "question": "Why did Panama Canal traffic fall?", "answer": "A severe 2023–2024 drought cut Lake Gatún water levels, forcing the canal to reduce daily transit slots and draft. The Panama Canal Authority reported 9,944 deep-draft transits in FY2024, down about 29% from FY2023. The constraint is freshwater, not security." }, { "path": "/chokepoints/strait-of-malacca/economic-impact", "question": "How important is the Strait of Malacca for oil?", "answer": "It is the world's second-busiest oil transit chokepoint after the Strait of Hormuz. The EIA estimates about 21.7 million b/d (1Q2025) and 22.8 million b/d (2Q2025) of crude and petroleum liquids transited, mostly bound for East Asia." }, { "path": "/chokepoints/turkish-straits/economic-impact", "question": "What moves through the Turkish Straits?", "answer": "Predominantly crude oil from Russian, Caspian, and Black Sea ports bound for the Mediterranean. The EIA estimates about 3.6 million b/d (1Q2025) and 3.7 million b/d (2Q2025) of oil transited the Bosporus and Dardanelles." }, { "path": "/chokepoints/danish-straits/economic-impact", "question": "Why do the Danish Straits matter for sanctions?", "answer": "They are a primary outlet for seaborne Russian and Baltic crude and product exports, so they feature in price-cap and shadow-fleet attention. The EIA estimates about 4.8 million b/d (1Q2025) and 4.7 million b/d (2Q2025) of oil transited." }, { "path": "/commodities/food-prices/economic-impact", "question": "What is the FAO Food Price Index?", "answer": "A trade-weighted basket of five sub-indices (cereals, vegetable oils, dairy, meat, sugar). It averaged 130.8 points in May 2026 (2014–2016 = 100). It is a global price benchmark, not a hunger or food-insecurity measure." }, { "path": "/chokepoints/rankings", "question": "Why isn't the Strait of Hormuz in the ranking?", "answer": "Hormuz is the largest oil chokepoint overall, but Warconomy tracks it via a crude benchmark rather than this EIA transit series, so it is not part of this single-metric comparable ranking." } ] } ] }