[1] Finance, insurance, and real estate are United States Census Bureau classifications.
[2] "Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate" is the title of 1992 U.S. Census Bureau Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Division H.[4] Its coverage[5] was "All domestic establishments that provide financial, insurance, or real estate services."
The SIC was replaced by the North American (Canada, US, Mexico) Industry Classification System[7] (NAICS) starting in 1997.
They contracted this to FIRE, deliberately invoking the negative connotations which were, at least then, contrary to conventional wisdom.
[15] She and a group of scholars including Feistein, argued that FIRE aggravated social inequality and polarization of these cities.