Transparency in three dimensions

Abstract

The paper addresses the issue of transparency in public decision making, offering a proposed framework for assessing the goals and benefits, and how transparency is related to other principles, including those of the First Amendment. The text discusses the definition of transparency: the degree of transparency is a function of three variables: the possessor of information, the information that is to be made transparent, and to whom access to information will be given. Then, it addresses the aims of transparency, in particular, its regulatory, democracy enhancing, efficiency promoting, and epistemological goals. The text notes how transparency is conservative, seeking to prevent the worst outcomes even at the occasional cost of foreclosing the best ones.