Does the freedom of information law increase transparency at the local level? Evidence from a field experiment

SPÁČ, Peter, Petr VODA and Jozef ZAGRAPAN. Does the freedom of information law increase transparency at the local level? Evidence from a field experiment. Government Information Quarterly. Elsevier, 2018, vol. 35, No 3, p. 408-417. ISSN 0740-624X. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2018.05.003.

Basic information

• Original name: Does the freedom of information law increase transparency at the local level? Evidence from a field experiment
• Authors: SPÁČ, Peter (703 Slovakia, guarantor, belonging to the institution), Petr VODA (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution) and Jozef ZAGRAPAN (703 Slovakia).
• Edition: Government Information Quarterly, Elsevier, 2018, 0740-624X.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: 50601 Political science
• Country of publisher: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: text v databázi elsevier
• Impact factor: Impact factor: 4.311
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14230/18:00100945
• Organization unit: Faculty of Social Studies
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2018.05.003
• UT WoS: 000442188400006
• Keywords in English: transparency; freedom of information; field experiment; local government; Slovakia
• Tags: rivok
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

The paper studies how Freedom of Information (FOI) laws work and assist citizens in their demand for information at the local level. To examine this, we ran a field experiment and sent emails to all 2,928 municipalities in Slovakia and asked them to provide us data from local election, inaccessible in any other way. Results show that mentioning FOI law in the request increased the response rate, while a moral appeal had no effect at all. The found effect is, however, moderated by population size. While in less populated municipalities the FOI requests led to substantially higher responsiveness of public bodies, the form of the request becomes less relevant with increasing population. Higher compliance was also found for municipalities led by independents. On the other hand, areas with a predominance of an ethnic minority had lesser responsiveness, possibly due to a language barrier.

Links

• GA18-15700S, research and development project: Name: Životopisy a výkon politiků v České republice a na Slovensku

Investor: Czech Science Foundation