Evaluating the role of online data availability: The case of economic and institutional transparency in sixteen Latin American nations

Abstract

We adopt the principal-agent framework and the asymmetry of information between the principal and the agent in order to approach two subjects of much attention and expectations: i) the formal online release of governmental data as a means of furnishing information, and ii) its contribution to government economic and institutional transparency. We identify important characteristics of transparency as instruments to lessen the information asymmetry in relevant areas (or subjects) where corruption and inefficiency are generally present in political institutions. We focus on the central governments of sixteen Latin American nations. We determine that, while there exists a moderate release of data relevant to areas where corruption generally takes place, its contribution to providing meaningful information to the citizenry is minimal. Our findings also show the importance of policy that explicitly mandates that data corresponding to specific areas where corruption and inefficiency take place be shared over the Internet; adequate levels of national online technical sophistication are not sufficient. We conclude that modern information technologies, as tools to contributing to government transparency and lessen knowledge divides in the evaluated areas, are not meeting expectations. Our framework and findings seek to utilize political science theories to contribute to an early understanding of the role of modern data-oriented technologies in government transparency, and highlight the positive and negative effects that these can have in the betterment of governance and the consolidation of democracy.

The Impact of Open Data in the Uk: Complex, Unpredictable, and Political

“…858–59). There are also deeper questions about whether technological ‘sophistication’ alone is sufficient to drive change (Murillo , p. 42).…”

“…This was seen in the USA where the first incarnation of the http://data.gov site was undermined by a negative spiral of ambiguous goals, political infighting, and minimal compliance (Peled ). A recent study across 16 Latin American countries concluded that new data portals were not ‘meeting expectations’ regarding anti‐corruption (Murillo , p. 42). Access to information legislation is perhaps a precursor here, as a radical information reform policy later subject to pushback and incremental weakening due to overly‐ambitious aims and the second thoughts of politicians (Worthy ).…”

An Analysis of Accountability Concepts for Open Development

“…ICT tools created to collect feedback directly from citizens can change accountability relationships, such that new channels between development aid recipients and the institutions serving them have been created [12]. Governments making public data available for free, hope to deliver greater transparency and accountability towards citizens [13,14]. However, the links between accountability and open development are far more pervasive.…”

Open Government Data: Concepts, Approaches and Dimensions Over Time

“…Transparency is considered the precursor of accountability (GARCIA and SORIANO MALDONADO, 2012; AL-JAMAL and ABU-SHANAB, 2016) and is closely connected to a reduction in levels of corruption, through the accountability of public officials (MURILLO, 2015), even though the relationship between them is not complete (WORTHY, 2015). However, the lack of data quality is a risk to transparency (KOUSSOURIS et al, 2015), as well as the lack of policies that ensure the continued availability of updated data (NUGROHO et al, 2015;SOLAR et al, 2014;LEONTIEVA et al, 2015).…”