Determinants of Central Government Budget Disclosure: An International Comparative Analysis

Abstract

This paper attempts to identify the socio-economic, political and institutional determinants of central government budget disclosure, both through the Internet and other media. It builds budget disclosure indicators based on the International Budget Partnership questionnaire for 93 countries. The findings show that Internet penetration, education level, relative central government size, budget surplus, administrative culture, political competition and incumbents' ideology determine central governments' budget disclosure. A cluster analysis finds three groups of countries: high, medium and low level of budget disclosure.