Fiscal transparency and participation in government budgeting are widely promoted, yet claims about their benefits are rarely based on convincing evidence. We provide the first systematic review covering 38 empirical studies published between 1991 and early 2015. Increased budgetary disclosure and participation – which we call “fiscal openness” – are consistently associated with improvements in the quality of the budget, as well as governance and development outcomes. Only a handful of studies, however, are able to convincingly identify causal effects, in the form of reduced corruption, enhanced electoral accountability, and improved allocation of resources. We highlight gaps and set out a research agenda that consists of: (a) disaggregating broad measures of budget transparency to uncover which specific disclosures are related to outcomes; (b) tracing causal mechanisms to connect fiscal openness interventions with ultimate impacts on human development; (c) investigating the relative effectiveness of alternative interventions; (d) examining the relationship between transparency and participation; and (e) clarifying the contextual conditions that support particular interventions.

中文翻译：

---

财政开放的影响

广泛促进了财政透明度和参与政府预算，但是很少有令人信服的证据声称其收益。我们提供了涵盖1991年至2015年初之间发表的38项实证研究的第一份系统评价。预算披露和参与的增加（我们称为“财政开放性”）与预算质量以及治理和发展成果的改善始终相关。但是，只有少数研究能够令人信服地以减少腐败，增强选举问责制和改善资源分配的形式确定因果关系。我们着重指出差距并提出了一项研究议程，其中包括：（a）分解预算透明度的广泛指标，以发现哪些具体披露与成果有关；（b）追踪因果机制，以将财政开放措施与对人类发展的最终影响联系起来；（c）调查替代干预措施的相对有效性；（d）研究透明度与参与之间的关系；（e）阐明支持特定干预措施的背景条件。