Democracy and Transparency

Abstract

Are democracies more transparent than other types of political regimes? The answer to this question is often assumed to be yes. The contestability of elections and transparency of policy-making are however, analytically distinct concepts. We investigate theoretically the willingness of policy-makers to provide credible announcements of policy-relevant variables, and show that the availability (or absence) of that data is correlated with regime type, even after controlling for level of development, participation in IMF programs, country-specific effects, and the effects of time. Democracies are indeed more transparent.

Keywords: Transparency, Democracy, Elections