题目：Transparency and Corruption: Evidence from a Website Reform

报告人：吴明琴  教授 华南师范大学经济与管理学院

主持人： 金樟峰  博士后  浙江大学经济学院

时间：2019年3月22日星期五12:00-13:30

地点：浙江大学玉泉校区经济学院418室  

Abstract:

This paper asks whether information disclosure in the public sector can reduce corruption and improve performance. We study a reform in China where treated counties were required to post 385 performance indicators on an e-platform that the general public could easily access. Correcting for potential selection issues, we document corruption as measured by auditors fell by roughly one-sixth of a standard deviation; and, two alternative corruption measures fell, tax revenues increased and public goods increased. These results are consistent with a model where county leaders expect that their overseeing government and their constituents monitor more frequently and where corruption does not grease the wheels. We argue that the overseeing governments would likely monitor treated counties more intensely during the reform. We also search for phrases including electronic platform, corruption and citizen supervision posted on the Chinese search engine Baidu and find they increased in treated counties, suggesting that citizen monitoring also increased.

CRPE秘书处
2019-3-18