Influence of the regulatory framework on transparency: Analysis of the Spanish municipalities, 2014-‍2017

The objective of this work is to assess the capacity of the regulatory framework on the issue transparency to achieve the sought-after transparency in the management of public administrations. To this end, the existing literature focused on international experiences is reviewed, identifying works looking at one law or set of laws and measure the degree of transparency at a date after their entry into force. Subsequently, we analyze the case of big Spanish municipalities in connection with Act 19/2013 on Transparency, Access to Public Information and Good Governance. We thus use the levels of transparency published, mainly by the SIELOCAL Index for 2014 (year when the law came into force) and 2017. These data are also checked against the index prepared and published by Transparency International Spain. The results show a significant relationship between the law and achievements in terms of transparency; yet, the conclusions of our research present the evolution of transparency not only as a result of the regulatory framework, but as a result of a set of factors.