Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Yuriy V. Belousov
Author-Email: belousov@nifi.ru
Author-Workplace-Name: Financial Research Institute, Moscow 127006, Russian Federation
Author-Name: Olga I. Timofeeva
Author-Email: timofeeva@nifi.ru
Author-Workplace-Name: Financial Research Institute, Moscow 127006, Russian Federation; Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow 125993, Russian Federation
Title: Methodological Aspects of Compiling Open Budget Rankings
Abstract: Budget transparency is an effective tool in improving the quality of public budget executions. Ranking countries, regions and municipalities based on budget transparency is of interest for scientists and professionals in the whole world, including Russia. Methodologies behind budget transparency are a
rather complex tool, the quality of which largely affects the results. This paper analyzes the available and applied ranking methodologies — in particular, the Open Budget Index (OBI) by the International Budget Partnership (IBP), transparency indices of local budgets in Kazakhstan and Croatia, and the ranking of the Russian Federation’s constituent territories by the level of budget data openness. During the analysis we identified the methodological principles of each of the considered approaches, their differences and similarities. Special attention was paid to problematic issues of the International Budget Partnership’s methodology. It is especially important to specify these problems, as the IBP methodology is a model in measuring the level of budget transparency. By using the ranking of
Russian regions in terms of budget transparency levels, we demonstrate how to use special techniques and methods targeted at improving the quality of managing public fiscal performance.
Classification-JEL: H61, H87, R50
Keywords: public finance, regional finance, budget, open (transparent) budget, open budget data, open budget index, budget transparency ranking
Journal: Finansovyj žhurnal — Financial Journal
Pages: 122-138
Issue: 4
Year: 2021
Month: August
DOI: 10.31107/2075-1990-2021-4-122-138
File-URL: https://www.finjournal-nifi.ru/images/FILES/Journal/Archive/2021/4/statii/09_4_2021_v13.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf 
Handle: RePEc:fru:finjrn:210409:p:122-138