Portal:Show Me The Spending
From Sunshine Review
[edit] Featured article: Transparency and Performance in Government
There is a variety of authors and articles on transparency. But it usually falls into two categories: the study of transparency as a solution to political corruption and scholarship looking at transparency in the context of corporate disclosure requirements.[1] One is concerned with preventing government fraud and the other focuses on corporate disclosure to provide complete information to consumers. Yet these two categories are never considered together, until now. The Mercatus Center at George Mason University published an article to show that just as mandatory transparency can improve corporate performance, it may help improve government performance as well.
In a country like the United States, one might think that the benefits from greater transparency would be smaller than in developing countries. While respect for the rule of law prevents a significant amount of corruption, this article also addresses the principal-agent problem. Meaning that it looks into situations where agents steal from their principal, but also when agents do not perform well because they lack incentives to do so. The authors of this study show that there are benefits of transparency that are not limited to combating corruption, but extend to making sure that principal-agent relationships are more efficient and effective.
Published in October 2009, the article discusses transparency and how it relates to performance accountability. Next it explores how transparency can result in improved performance and looks at the lessons government can draw from corporate financial transparency. Finally, the paper examines some limits to transparency, including exceptions that swallow the rule and public choice concerns.
Read the full article here.
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