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Political determinants of fiscal transparency: a panel data empirical investigation

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  • Lorenzo Cicatiello

    (University of Naples l’Orientale)

  • Elina Simone

    (University of Naples Parthenope)

  • Giuseppe Lucio Gaeta

    (University of Naples l’Orientale
    Local Development and Internationalization)

Abstract

The investigation of the determinants of fiscal transparency has been mostly performed on cross-sectional data, and it has produced mixed results. This paper improves the existing literature by performing a static and dynamic panel analysis of the effect of a set of political variables on the level of fiscal transparency in 36 democratic countries. By using a recent measure of fiscal transparency based on IMF Governance Finance Statistics and available from 2003 to 2013, we find strong links between political environments and the dynamics of fiscal disclosure. Our results show that government control over the legislature exerts some negative effect on fiscal transparency, while the effect of government ideology is shown to be at least fragile. Furthermore we find that legislature fragmentation exerts a negative effect on fiscal transparency, which suggests that competition within the parliaments does not increase fiscal transparency, but instead it induces governments to react by reducing accessibility to information.

Suggested Citation

  • Lorenzo Cicatiello & Elina Simone & Giuseppe Lucio Gaeta, 2017. "Political determinants of fiscal transparency: a panel data empirical investigation," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 315-336, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ecogov:v:18:y:2017:i:4:d:10.1007_s10101-017-0192-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s10101-017-0192-x
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    Cited by:

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    2. Capasso, Salvatore & Cicatiello, Lorenzo & De Simone, Elina & Gaeta, Giuseppe Lucio & Mourão, Paulo Reis, 2021. "Fiscal transparency and tax ethics: does better information lead to greater compliance?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 1031-1050.
    3. Huseyin Cicek & Suleyman Dikmen, 2021. "External Audit And Fiscal Transparency: An Empirical Analysis," Public administration issues, Higher School of Economics, issue 5, pages 7-26.
    4. Francisca Tejedo-Romero & Joaquim Filipe Ferraz Esteves Araujo, 2023. "Critical factors influencing information disclosure in public organisations," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Claudio Columbano, 2022. "Measuring fiscal guidance transparency," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 46(2), pages 261-296.
    6. Emna Trabelsi, 2019. "Do independence and transparency matter for bank development? A new lookup on emerging and developing countries," Post-Print hal-02162780, HAL.
    7. De Simone Elina & Gaeta Giuseppe Lucio & Mourão Paulo Reis, 2017. "The Impact of Fiscal Transparency on Corruption: An Empirical Analysis Based on Longitudinal Data," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(4), pages 1-17, October.
    8. Qiuxian Hu & Leibao Zhang & Wenyu Zhang & Shuai Zhang, 2020. "Empirical Study on the Evaluation Model of Public Satisfaction With Local Government Budget Transparency: A Case From China," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(2), pages 21582440209, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fiscal transparency; Panel data; Political determinants;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H6 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt
    • P5 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems

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