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Do Freedom of Information Laws increase transparency of government? A replication of a field experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Stephan Grimmelikhuijsen

    (Utrecht University)

  • Peter John

    (King's College, London)

  • Albert Meijer

    (Utrecht University)

  • Ben Worthy

    (Birkbeck University of London)

Abstract

Transparency and responsiveness are core values of democratic governments, yet do Freedom of Information Laws - one of the legal basis for such values - actually help to increase these values? This paper reports a replication of a field experiment testing for the responsiveness of public authorities by Worthy et al (2016) in the United Kingdom. We sent 390 information requests to Dutch local government bodies, half of which were framed as official FOIA requests, the other half as informal requests for information. We were able to reproduce the original findings, that is, we found a positive effect of FOIA requests on responsiveness. The overall response rate of local governments was much higher (76%) and the size of the effect was larger than in the original experiment. Furthermore, the strongest effect of FOI was found on proactive disclosure (concordance), something that governments - strictly speaking - are not obliged to do according to the Dutch FOIA. Implications for future replication studies are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephan Grimmelikhuijsen & Peter John & Albert Meijer & Ben Worthy, 2019. "Do Freedom of Information Laws increase transparency of government? A replication of a field experiment," Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, Center for Experimental and Behavioral Public Administration, vol. 2(1).
    • Handle: RePEc:bpd:articl:v:2:y:2019:i:1:jbpa.12.34
    DOI: 10.30636/jbpa.12.34
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard M. Walker & Oliver James & Gene A. Brewer, 2017. "Replication, experiments and knowledge in public management research," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(9), pages 1221-1234, October.
    2. Paul Richter & Rob Wilson, 2013. "‘It's the tip of the iceberg’: the hidden tensions between theory, policy and practice in the management of Freedom of Information in English local government bodies—evidence from a regional study," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3), pages 177-184, May.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Benjamin E. Bagozzi & Daniel Berliner & Zack W. Almquist, 2021. "When does open government shut? Predicting government responses to citizen information requests," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(2), pages 280-297, April.
    2. María Verónica Alderete & Lucia Andrea Díaz & Nicolás Álvarez, 2020. "Análisis exploratorio de las solicitudes de acceso a la información pública durante el período 2017-2019 en las capitales de provincia de Argentina, CABA y Bahía Blanca," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers 4302, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Openness; Local government; Information requests; Field experiment; Transparency; Freedom of Information;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media
    • Z00 - Other Special Topics - - General - - - General
    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General

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