Dimensões explicativas da transparência: uma análise dos municípios brasileiros

Abstract

Transparency is one of the main mechanisms for strengthening democratic regimes. It is understood as the main tool capable of reducing the informational asymmetry between State and society, corroborating to maximize accountability, as well as to strengthen social control (FILGUEIRAS, 2011; O'DONNELL, 1998; PERUZZOTTI; SMULOVITZ, 2002; DOMINGOS, 2013). However, according to data from the Transparent Brazil Scale (EBT), developed by the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU), Brazilian municipalities have low levels of transparency, motivated by low adherence to the law on access to information (LAI) (OLIVEIRA, 2017). Thus, this research aimed to analyze the dimensions that impact the levels of transparency in these municipalities. The analysis was based on data from the third edition of the Transparent Brazil Scale, and included a sample of 2,325 municipalities. To this end, the work analyzed arguments from the literature on the explanatory dimensions for the municipal transparency index. Thus, it is expected that the adherence to LAI and the municipality's bureaucratic capacity correlate positively with the level of local transparency; the population size and the region of the municipality, influences the variation of the transparency index; developed and efficiently managed municipalities have a higher level of transparency; and, the normative act used to regulate LAI has a positive impact on the municipality's level of transparency. To test the hypotheses, correlation and regression analyzes were performed, using the multivariate linear regression model. After the tests it was possible to conclude that more than half of the Brazilian municipalities have insufficient levels of transparency, and the worst rates are among the municipalities in the North, Northeast and Southeast. The regression tests showed that all the variables contained in the dimensions of development, management quality and regulation rule are significant to explain the level of transparency of the municipalities, with emphasis on the LAI regulation and regulation rule dimensions, which presented explanatory power of 58% and 46%, respectively. The other dimensions had variables that were not significant to explain the level of transparency in the municipalities.