2021/08/06 by Beatriz Cuadrado‐Ballesteros, Marco Bisogno · 18 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth #Taxation and Compliance Studies #Local Government Finance and Decentralization #Transparency (behavior) #Accountability #Relevance (law) #Good governance #Business #Corporate governance #Empirical evidence #Human development (humanity) #Human Development Index #Accounting #Economics #Political science #Computer science #Economic growth #Computer security #Finance
paper · doi:10.1177/00208523211027525
published in International Review of Administrative Sciences 89(1), 239-256 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2021/08/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/24
This study aims to highlight the relevance of budget transparency in improving human development and fill the gap in the literature, which has traditionally considered the concept of development in economic terms. Here, development refers to levels of knowledge, the possibility of enjoying a long and healthy life and having a decent standard of living. Improving human development is the main point of interest in the assessment of public policy outcomes and this study is focussed on one specific policy, namely, budget transparency. By using a pool of 110 countries for the years 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2017, the empirical results demonstrate a positive effect of the open budget index on the human development index, suggesting that budget transparency is a good way to improve levels of human development. These findings are essential not only for academic debate but also for practitioners because they show transparency as a relevant tool to improve human development. Points for practitioners Budget transparency is a relevant tool to improve human development. Transparency may improve the quality of life through a better quality of governance. The central roles played by transparency and participation coupled with accountability have been confirmed. The complexity of the concept of human development involves, among other things, disclosing information regarding the public policies. Examining budgets, guaranteeing their transparency as well as the transparency of the budgeting process, is highly recommended to improve human development.