A new index of transparency: Evidence for the Italian municipalities

Abstract

This paper contributes to the literature on transparency measurement defining and constructing a new synthetic indicator (Italian Transparency Index - ITI) through the adoption of a methodology suitable for the treatment of system of ordinal indicators, the partially ordered set (poset). With respect to the existing measures of transparency proposed in the literature, the ITI has the advantage to identify precisely all the different and specific transparency profiles. This methodology is applied to the fulfillment of the Italian regulation on transparency by the Municipalities focusing on two dimensions of the public action, i.e. integrity and efficiency and adopts a two steps procedure. Firstly, we construct a synthetic index for each of the two above-mentioned transparency dimensions. Secondly, we define a synthetic measure of transparency starting from the two previous indicators. Thus, we focus on the synthesis of basic indicators, in order to aggregate their values for each statistical units of a sample of Italian Municipalities. The ITI can be a useful tool for policymakers to monitor the state of transparency within and across the administrative units and to design more informed and targeted policies with likely positive implications in terms of effectiveness.