Fiscal transparency, participation and accountability (FTAP) could certainly be among the most important drivers for appropriate social and economic reforms in all aspects of policymaking at international, national and local levels. FTAP could also have a tremendous impact on the human rights. In times of crises fueled by Covid-19, war in Ukraine and above all the climate changes, which all also negatively impact the human rights, reforms are more pressing than ever before. It is why the Public Sector Economics journal and its publisher the Institute of Public Finance organized a virtual presentation on 18th October 2022, moderated by Branko Stanić, in which our esteemed authors – Claudio Columbano, Maria Emilia Mamberti and Olivia Minatta – presented their articles and exchanged their views with the international audience. 

 

Claudio Columbano, in his article and the presentation informed about a dataset of medium-term fiscal and economic forecasts disclosed annually by EU member states over the period 2001-2018. Based on this hand-collected dataset, which includes forecasts on up to 117 items, he built a new index of fiscal transparency that measures the intensity of governments’ “fiscal guidance”. His analysis reveals that, while governments are rather transparent in their guidance on the fiscal and economic outlook, they tend to withhold significant information on future assets and liabilities, as well as on the exogenous assumptions required to formulate these forecasts. Additionally, he documented that fiscal guidance transparency declines markedly in the forecast horizon and in the strength of the governing coalition. These results suggest that information precision, willingness to commit and political dynamics affect the fiscal guidance disclosure process. 

 

Maria Emilia Mamberti and Olivia Minatta, in their article and the presentation, explained that with respect to FTPA, human rights provide guidance for governments and tools for citizens. By ensuring FTPA, states discharge their international human rights obligations and enhance representation and legitimacy in their fiscal policy, narrowing the gap between commitments on paper and implementation in practice. They focused on the implications and guidance of Principle 7 of the Principles for Human Rights in Fiscal Policy, and presented cases of CSOs using the human rights framework to advocate for more tax transparency in Argentina and Mexico.


Columbano, Mamberti and Minatta are among experts who are digging deep into these issues hoping to contribute to the improvements of public policies, enabling more equitable redistribution, decreasing corruption and in that way improving lives of citizens, particularly the most excluded and the most wanting. Even the smallest steps in these directions would positively impact the overall human rights. 


If you are interested in what the experts had to say, the full recording of the presentation is also available