Transparency and Trust in Government: Evidence from a Survey Experiment
Peer Reviewed
Date issued
February 2019
Journal version
Summary
Subject
Governance;
Government Accountability;
Impact Evaluation;
Public Expenditure;
Government Budget;
Politics and Institution;
Open Government;
Municipal Government;
Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfer;
Randomized Controlled Trial;
Political Trust
JEL code
C83 - Survey Methods • Sampling Methods;
H11 - Structure, Scope, and Performance of Government;
D83 - Search • Learning • Information and Knowledge • Communication • Belief • Unawareness;
H40 - Publicly Provided Goods: General;
C38 - Classification Methods • Cluster Analysis • Principal Components • Factor Models;
C99 - Design of Experiments: Other;
D90 - Intertemporal Choice: General
Country
Argentina
Category
Working Papers
Does providing information improve citizens’ perception about government transparency? Does all information matter the same for shaping perceptions about the government? This paper addresses these questions in the context of an online randomized survey experiment conducted in Argentina. Results show that providing information to citizens matters for shaping perceptions about transparency, and the content of the information matters for affecting the evaluation people make about the government. Those who received a “positive” treatment (showing that the government was over-performing on its promises) increased their trust in the government more than those who received a “negative” treatment (showing that the government was underperforming). The evidence highlights that the channel between transparency and trust may be mediated by the performance of the government.
Generative AI enabled