The relevance of budget transparency for development
| Author | Beatriz Cuadrado-Ballesteros,Marco Bisogno |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00208523211027525 |
| Published date | 01 March 2023 |
| Date | 01 March 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
The relevance of budget
transparency for
development
Beatriz Cuadrado-Ballesteros
Multidisciplinary Institute for Enterprises,
University of Salamanca, Spain
Marco Bisogno
Department of Management & Innovation Systems, University
of Salerno, Italy
Abstract
This study aims to highlight the relevance of budget transparency in improving human
development and fill the gap in the literature, which has traditionally considered the con-
cept of development in economic terms. Here, development refers to levels of knowl-
edge, the possibility of enjoying a long and healthy life and having a decent standard of
living. Improving human development is the main point of interest in the assessment
of public policy outcomes and this study is focussed on one specific policy, namely, bud-
get transparency. By using a pool of 110 countries for the years 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015
and 2017, the empirical results demonstrate a positive effect of the open budget index
on the human development index, suggesting that budget transparency is a good way to
improve levels of human development. These findings are essential not only for academic
debate but also for practitioners because they show transparency as a relevant tool to
improve human development.
Points for practitioners
Budget transparency is a relevant tool to improve human development. Transparency
may improve the quality of life through a better quality of governance. The central
roles played by transparency and participation coupled with accountability have been
confirmed. The complexity of the concept of human development involves, among
Corresponding author:
Beatriz Cuadrado-Ballesteros, Management and Business Economics, Multidisciplinary Institute for Enterprises,
University of Salamanca, Campus Unamuno, FES, Salamanca 37007, Spain.
Email: u77171@usal.e
Article
International
Review of
Administrative
Sciences
International Review of Administrative
Sciences
2023, Vol. 89(1) 239–256
© The Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/00208523211027525
journals.sagepub.com/home/ras
other things, disclosing information regarding the public policies. Examining budgets,
guaranteeing their transparency as well as the transparency of the budgeting process,
is highly recommended to improve human development.
Keywords
capability approach, growth, human development, human rights, open budget,
transparency
Introduction
Traditionally, the concept of development has been interpreted essentially from an eco-
nomic perspective, pursuing the goal of increasing economic output. The economy
(namely, the wealth and resources of a country) is historically measured in terms of
per capita GDP or per capita national product (Alkire, 2002). However, it has been
argued that the concept of development cannot be based only on economic growth
(Ranis et al., 2000), as proved by the experience of some undeveloped countries which
reached the targets of growth set by the United Nations in the 1950s and 1960s, while
the standards of living for most citizens remained unchanged (Mazumdar, 2003).
Therefore, the concept of ‘development’is more complex, and it involves more fea-
tures than the simple economic growth of per capita income or GDP. It refers to basic
human needs (health, education, availability of food, clothing, etc.; Streeten, 1981),
empowerment, equity, sustainability (UNDP, 2011), social equality (UNDP, 2019) and
freedoms: the freedom of well-being and freedom of agency to do or achieve what is
valued (UNDP, 2016). The capability approach coupled with the concept of human
rights has been proposed (Sen, 1984; Sen, 2005), including all of these features under
the umbrella of ‘human development’.
Despite the fact that human development is difficult to define and measure, it is a nor-
mative concept because there are clear expectations that it should be positive and
improved (Raphael, 2010). According to the UNDP (1990), the main aim of human
development is to create an enabling environment for a better life and that is also the
main interest in the assessment of public policy outcomes (Bovaird and Löffler, 2003;
Santos and Martins, 2007). This study is focussed on one specific policy: public
transparency.
Accordingly, many governments have introduced important reforms with the aim of
making public-sector entities more transparent and accountable, and one of them refers
to budgeting. More concretely, budget transparency allows citizens to know how
public resources (which they provide) are used to achieve policy objectives (OECD,
2006, 2015). It is worth noting that accountability, participation and transparency play
central roles in the human development discourse (Sahay and Walsham, 2017; Vizard
et al., 2011).
This study aims to highlight the relevance of budget transparency in improving human
development and thereby fill the gap mentioned by De Renzio and Wehner (2017). They
240 International Review of Administrative Sciences 89(1)
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