Determinant socioeconomic variables for passive public transparency in Brazilian municipalities

Abstract

This article presents determinant socioeconomic variables for passive public transparency in Brazilian municipalities based on Escala Brasil Transparente, EBT (Brazilian transparency scale). Using a random sample of 1.133 municipalities, bivariate and multivariate analyses revealed a significant correlation between passive public transparency and the variables: population’ education, per capita income and age. The variable age presented different result from what was expected, showing that the age of the population did not have an inverse relation with passive public transparency. The descriptive results revealed the low level of passive public transparency in Brazilian municipalities, which obtained a mean of only 1.93 (on a scale between 0 and 10). In addition to the statistical findings, the study contributes to show the differentiation between active and passive public transparency, showing the characteristics that are representative of each of them.

Keywords:
public transparency; passive transparency; Brazil Transparency Scale.