Beyond Transparency Statements: Explaining the Impact of Efficiency and Auditing on the Disclosure of Public Information

Abstract

Transparency has become a key element for pub­lic entities as a mechanism of reliability and account­ability. In addition, the continuous auditing of these entities, as well as the efficient provision of public services, are important elements that can have an impact on a greater degree of transparency. In this paper, the aim is to measure how these factors influ­ence the level of municipal transparency through an analysis of a sample of 143 Spanish municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants using the gen­eralized model of moments. The results show that an efficient and highly audited municipality offers a higher level of public information and influences oth­er political and socioeconomic factors.

Keywords

• transparency
• auditing
• efficiency
• local entities
• public administration.