On January 18, 2023, our doctoral student Simona Prijaković presented her doctoral research "Impact of the level of online budget transparency of Croatian local governments on selected political and economic variables", as part of the project Does transparency pay-off? The political and socio-economic impacts of local government budget transparency in Croatia financed by the Croatian Science Foundation (CSF).

 

Budget transparency has become one of the key topics of contemporary research in the fields of political economy and public administration. Its purpose is to enable and encourage citizen participation and increase government accountability. Therefore, this doctoral research investigates the consequences of online budget transparency of Croatian local governments on selected political and economic variables, using the Open Local Budget Index (OLBI) annually calculated by the Institute of Public Finance. 

 

Prijaković pointed out the main research goal of the doctoral thesis - to theoretically identify and empirically determine the main political and economic effects of the increase in the level of online budget transparency of Croatian local units. In addition, she wants to give recommendations to public policy holders for the adoption of a better budget and public policies at the local level and more efficient provision of public services. Her primary political variable is the mayor/chief re-election, while the total debt, the budget balance and the budget credibility of local governments are her main economic variables. 

 

The presentation was held at the Zagreb PhD Café #20 in Booksa, in cooperation with the CSF. A series of lectures for doctoral students and young scientists are held within the Young Researchers’ Career Development Programme. The CSF has been promoting science, higher education and technological development in Croatia, supporting scientific, higher education and technological programs and projects and facilitating competition for international projects. CSF emphasises the inclusion of doctoral students in research activities, the primary goal being the writing of their thesis and obtaining a doctoral degree within four years as well as continuous monitoring and evaluation of achieved results, enabling them to compete, on equal terms, with their peers abroad and offering them a better chance of obtaining post-doctoral training grants in top-notch research environments.