Budget Transparency of Local Governments: The Political Economy of City and Municipality Budgets in Croatia

Ott, Katarina; Mačkić, Velibor; Bronić, Mihaela

doi:10.5559/di.27.4.03

Cited by 13 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…For the the citizen_wealth variable, the results are positive and significant only in the Croatian sample as previously proved in Ott et al, (2018) and . This indication of Croatian LGUs with a higher average income p.c.…”

Section: Results and Analysissupporting

confidence: 74%

“…These results are consistent for all three samples and in all the models estimated. Several authors also found that population positively affects local governments' budget/fiscal transparency (De Araújo and Tejedo-Romero, 2016;del Sol, 2013;Guillamón et al, 2011;Styles and Tennyson, 2007;Ott et al, 2018;, Benčina et al, 2019. Explanations are usually given in two directions.…”

Section: Results and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…and government transparency. Ott et al (2018) and in the analysis of determinants of OLBT for Croatia also showed that residents' income p.c. positively affects OLBT.…”

Section: Residents' Income Pcmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Several authors found a positive and statistically significant relationship between population and data availability (Guillamón et al, 2011;del Sol, 2013;Lowatcharin and Menifield, 2015;De Araújo & Tejedo-Romero, 2016;Ott et al, 2018;Benčina et al, 2019). Therefore, we assumed that:…”

Section: Largermentioning

confidence: 99%

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Determinants of Online Local Budget Transparency in Croatia and Slovenia

Ott

Bronić

Stanić

et al. 2019

CEPAR

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As a part of the public governance, transparency started to come forward during the New Public Management reforms, mostly for the evaluation of public sector efficiency. This article focuses on online local budget transparency (OLBT) in two neighbouring countries – Croatia and Slovenia. The article is pioneering in a comparative study of the determinants of budget transparency in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, based on a unique database and measure of transparency. The article tests the determinants of OLBT that reflect the accountability of local authorities and a cornerstone for public participation in the budget process. The following methodology was applied: using a data set of 768 Slovenian and Croatian local governments over the 2015–2017 period and testing it against several financial and socio-economic variables, and a random effects panel logistic regression, separately for Croatia, Slovenia, and a pooled sample. The results indicate that greater size of the population, higher administrative capacity and lower unemployment rate in individual local governments significantly contribute to higher levels of OLBT. This study demonstrates the possibility of developing a standardised measure of local budget transparency and using it to investigate the reasons for different levels of transparency in the two – and potentially other – CEE countries. The results of this and similar studies can serve as a basis for establishing cohesive local budget transparency policies for different countries and creating a combination of policy instruments to enhance transparency.

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Section: Results and Analysissupporting

confidence: 74%

Section: Results and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…and government transparency. Ott et al (2018) and in the analysis of determinants of OLBT for Croatia also showed that residents' income p.c. positively affects OLBT.…”

Section: Residents' Income Pcmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Largermentioning

confidence: 99%

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Determinants of Online Local Budget Transparency in Croatia and Slovenia

Ott

Bronić

Stanić

et al. 2019

CEPAR

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Nowadays we have a few studies dedicated to local budget transparency assessment with regard to institutional environment in the CEE countries: Ott et al (2006Ott et al ( , 2018, Andronova et al (2018), Sedmihradska (2015). Recent input to analyzing local fiscal transparency in Ukraine is presented in Demydenko and Nakonechna (2016), Slukhai et al (Слухай et al, 2019).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Principle of Transparency in the Ukrainian Decentralisation Reform

Slukhai

Demydenko

Nakonechna

et al. 2019

CEPAR

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After the Revolution of Dignity (2013–2014), the new Ukrainian government set out a number of reforms, one of which – and a successful one so far – was decentralisation, involving territorial amalgamation and re-allocation of public revenues and outlays in favour of the newly-established amalgamated territorial communities (ATCs). This study aims to analyse whether decentralisation is supported by the realisation of the budget transparency principle. We attempt to fill the gap still existing in the research of public sector transparency in Ukraine, concerning the basic administrative level, hereby being limited to big cities and regions. The authors carried out an assessment of budget transparency in newly-established ATCs in four Ukrainian regions by applying a simplified methodology (‘snapshot assessment’) involving 11 measures that could be easily located on the ATC websites. In order to understand the reasons for a particular level of transparency, a polling of ATC heads was undertaken. The findings of the study demonstrate that the overall budget transparency in the newly established ATCs is rather low and subject to significant interregional variation. We find that the local officials overstate the existing level of budget transparency in their communities and are not proactive in their efforts to raise it. The importance of this article lies in substantiating the need for making budget transparency a priority for local officials, as well as in detailing the activity of the state and the local community in this field

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Transparency in the use of assets confiscated from mafia organizations

Bisogno,

Cuadrado-Ballesteros,

Citro

et al. 2024

International Review of Administrative Sciences

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Several remedies can be adopted in the fight against organized crime and mafias. One of the most effective is the confiscation of their assets. After confiscation, assets can be used to provide services to citizens, frequently thanks to the support of non-profit organizations. With a focus on Italy, this study investigates the transparency of the confiscation process and the factors that explain why local governments provide (or do not provide) information on confiscated assets. Points for practitioners To facilitate dialogue with citizens, it is essential to consider the perspective of data users, so as to avoid focusing on the data provider. Such a dialogue can aid the adequate reuse of assets confiscated from the mafia and other criminal organizations, contributing to the ‘social’ fight against them. This article contributes to the debate on both transparency and studies on mafia organizations, providing a new insight through the consideration of how external pressures can drive public-sector entities to be more transparent.

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Budget Transparency of Local Governments: The Political Economy of City and Municipality Budgets in Croatia

Cited by 13 publications

References 29 publications

Determinants of Online Local Budget Transparency in Croatia and Slovenia

Determinants of Online Local Budget Transparency in Croatia and Slovenia

The Principle of Transparency in the Ukrainian Decentralisation Reform

Transparency in the use of assets confiscated from mafia organizations

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