ABSTRACT In current paper, an attempt is made to investigate the role played by transparency in reform outcome and development efforts in societies around the globe. The authors investigate the two sides of the transparency debate—both the conventional view that portray the positive rewards and the contrasting side that is more hesitant about the associated benefits. The paper is based on empirical investigation of four countries—two of them (Hong–Kong and Singapore) representing societies with transparent public policies that have successfully reformed and transitioned to the rank of newly industrialized economies, and the other two (Nigeria and Sudan)—lacking in transparent public policies and still faced with difficult reform and transitional challenges. The results uncover evidence of strong association between transparency and reform outcome/national development efforts. The impact of transparency on reform is monitored through FDI inflows—uncovering evidence that countries with transparent policies are successful in attracting FDI inflows needed for executing national reforms and development programs and, on the contrary, that nations lacking in transparent public policies fail to attract needed FDI inflows. Based on pragmatic data, the results are very insightful and can be used, not only be scholars, but also by policy-makers for guiding the formulation of national reform programs and development blueprints in their societies, as needed. Keywords Corruption; Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Inflows; Market Capitalization; Emerging Market Economies (EMEs)