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The Keys to Unlocking Public Payments Data

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  • Charles Rahal

Abstract

We mechanize some of the richest yet significantly under†utilized data resources within developed, ‘Open Data' economies. We show how it is possible to scrape, parse, clean and merge tens of thousands of disaggregated public payments datasets in an attempt to bridge the methodological gap between newly available data from the administrative sphere and applications in empirical social science research. We outline techniques to unambiguously link records to various freely available institutional registers. In particular, we offer guidance on overcoming the substantial challenges of heterogeneous provision and administrative recording errors in the absence of Uniform Resource Identifiers, namely in the form of an approximate, domain†specific ‘record†linkage' type matching algorithm. As an illuminating example, we construct a cleaned database of 24,581,192 local government payments subject to the Local Transparency Codes which total £169.87bn in value. We overcome various challenges in a detailed examination of the procurement of services by local government from the voluntary sector: an important contemporary issue due to the rise of the ‘Big Society’ political ideology of the early 21st century. Finally, we motivate future work in this area and discuss potential international applications and practical advancements.

Suggested Citation

  • Charles Rahal, 2018. "The Keys to Unlocking Public Payments Data," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(2), pages 310-337, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:kyklos:v:71:y:2018:i:2:p:310-337
    DOI: 10.1111/kykl.12171
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    Cited by:

    1. Goodair, Benjamin, 2023. "‘Accident and emergency’? Exploring the reasons for increased privatisation in England's NHS," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    2. Nicola Matteucci & Raffaella Santolini & Silvio Di Fabio, 2023. "ICT diffusion in public administrations and business dynamics: Evidence from Italian municipalities," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(4), pages 1233-1271, December.
    3. Rahal, Charles, 2018. "Tools for Transparency in Central Government Spending," SocArXiv 9c7m2, Center for Open Science.
    4. Daniel Weimar & Christoph Breuer, 2022. "Against the mainstream: Field evidence on a positive link between media consumption and the demand for sports among children," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(2), pages 317-336, May.
    5. Peter Grajzl & Jaka Cepec & Barbara Mörec, 2023. "Weaned off public money: The effect of discontinued reception of public cash on firm outcomes," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(1), pages 41-76, February.

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