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Cited by 798Administrative Law and GovernanceRegulation and Compliance StudiesPublic Policy and Administration Research

Full Disclosure: The Perils and Promise of Transparency

Open access
Fung, Archon, Graham, Mary, Weil, David·2007·Cambridge University Press eBooks
DOI 10.1017/cbo9780511510533
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Abstract

Governments employ public disclosure strategies to reduce risks, improve public and private goods and services, and reduce injustice. In the United States, these targeted transparency policies include financial securities disclosures, nutritional labels, school report cards, automobile rollover rankings, and sexual offender registries. They constitute a light-handed approach to governance that empowers citizens. However, these policies are frequently ineffective or counterproductive. Based on a comparative analysis of eighteen major policies, the authors suggest that transparency policies often produce information that is incomplete, incomprehensible, or irrelevant to the consumers, investors, workers, and community residents who could benefit from them. Sometimes transparency fails because those who are threatened by it form political coalitions to limit or distort information. To be successful, transparency policies must place the needs of ordinary citizens at centre stage and produce information that informs their everyday choices. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

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Crossref · 10.1017/9780521699617

Cites

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  • Transparency has evolved as a key element of environmental governance over the last decades.

    “Over the last decades, transparency has evolved as a key element of environmental governance (Fung et al., 2007;Mol, 2010).”

    From Making deforestation risk visible. Discourses on bovine leather supply chain in Brazil (2020) · cites this paper as Fung et al., 2007

    The Book description (page not given) describes public disclosure as an approach to governance, supporting the general link between transparency and governance. The available passages do not establish that transparency became a key element of environmental governance over the last decades; searches for environmental governance and environmental disclosure found no such passage. (LLM, conf=0.76)

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Related

Authors
Fung, A., Graham, M., & Weil, D.
Affiliations
  • Harvard University (US)
  • Boston University (US)
ORCID
Fung, Archon
Venue
Cambridge University Press eBooks
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Published
2007-03-05
DOI
10.1017/cbo9780511510533
OpenAlex
W1481162202
Cited by
752
References
299
Citations by year
2025: 2 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 33 · 2020: 93 · 2019: 87 · 2018: 45 · 2017: 44 · 2016: 56 · 2015: 51 · 2014: 68 · 2013: 61 · 2012: 47
FWCI
43.58
Type
book
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
Cambridge University Press eBooks (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Administrative Law and Governance
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Regulation and Compliance Studies
  • Social Sciences › Public Administration › Public Policy and Administration Research
Keywords
transparency policy, public disclosure, financial disclosure, nutrition labeling, school reports, information quality, political alliances, citizen empowerment, governance, policy effectiveness

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