Is transparency spatially determined? An empirical test for Italian municipalities

Emma Galli, Ilde Rizzo and Carla Scaglioni

Applied Economics, 2020, vol. 52, issue 58, 6372-6385

Abstract: In this article, we aim to assess whether transparency is characterized by a spatial dimension. To this end, we use a new composite indicator (CTI) for a large sample of Italian municipalities and control for several factors (socio-economic, fiscal, and politico-institutional), which, according to the literature, affect transparency. Our results suggest that there is a statistically significant transparency clustering across the Italian municipalities which follows a dichotomic pattern, i.e. either very low or very high. Moreover, the empirical analysis shows that spatial dependence matters and ‘transparency mimicking’ takes place among neighbouring municipalities. This behaviour mainly occurs among small municipalities where citizens’ political participation is likely to be greater and the single-ballot electoral system strengthens the incentives for government accountability.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00036846.2020.1795068 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Is transparency spatially determined? An empirical test for the Italian Municipalities (2018)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:applec:v:52:y:2020:i:58:p:6372-6385

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RAEC20

DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2020.1795068

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Economics is currently edited by Anita Phillips

More articles in Applied Economics from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().