Geginat, CarolinSaltane, Valentina2014-12-122014-12-122014-12https://hdl.handle.net/10986/20698This paper presents new indicators for 185 economies measuring the accessibility of business regulatory information. The paper shows that the new data can serve as meaningful proxies for the overall transparency of governments and the new data have explanatory power for the quality of business regulation. The paper finds the regulatory environment to be most opaque in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa, where businesses can often only access basic regulatory information by meeting a government official. By contrast, in countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, access is more direct via websites, public billboards, and brochures. Moreover, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development economies are more consistent in their transparency efforts across government agencies. The paper also finds that while resources as proxied by income levels play some role in explaining why some economies make more information easily accessible than others, those resources are not the only determining factor; regardless of income, more democratic governments tend to make greater transparency efforts. Finally, easier access to basic regulatory information is associated with greater regulatory quality and less corruption.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOACCESS TO INFORMATIONACCESSIBILITYACCOUNTABILITYADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSESAGGREGATE INDICATORSBRIBESBUREAUCRACYBUSINESS INDICATORBUSINESS INDICATORSBUSINESS REGULATIONBUSINESS REGULATIONSBUSINESSESCITIZENCITIZENSCIVIL LIBERTIESCIVIL RIGHTSCOMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGYCOMPETITIVENESSCOMPOSITE INDICATORCONNECTIVITYCORRELATION MATRIXCORRUPTIONCORRUPTION INDICATORCORRUPTION VARIABLEDATA ANALYSISDATA COLLECTIONDEMOCRACYDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDIGITAL DIVIDEDISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTSE-GOVERNMENTE-GOVERNMENT INDEXE-GOVERNMENT SOLUTIONSECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHEGOVERNMENTELECTORAL PROCESSELECTRICITYENTERPRISE SURVEYSFIGHTING CORRUPTIONFIXED COSTSGOOD GOVERNANCEGOVERNMENT AGENCIESGOVERNMENT OFFICIALSGOVERNMENT POLICIESGOVERNMENT REGULATIONSGOVERNMENT SERVICESGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONSHUMAN CAPITALIMPERFECT INFORMATIONIMPLEMENTING AGENCIESINCOMEINCOME LEVELINCOME LEVELSINFORMATION ACCESSIBILITYINFORMATION AVAILABILITYINFORMATION SYSTEMSINTERNATIONAL BEST PRACTICEINTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTINTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONSLAW INDEXLICENSELOCAL GOVERNMENTSMATERIALNUMBER OF USERSONLINE SERVICESOPEN ACCESSOPEN GOVERNMENTPARTICIPATION VARIABLESPCPENETRATION RATESPOLICY MAKINGPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOLITICAL PARTICIPATIONPOLITICAL RIGHTSPOLITICAL SYSTEMPRIVACYPRIVATE SECTORPRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENTPRIVATE SECTOR GROWTHPRODUCTIVITYPUBLIC AGENCIESPUBLIC PARTICIPATIONPUBLIC SERVANTSPUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERYPUBLIC SERVICESQUALITY OF SERVICESREGISTRIESREGISTRYREGULATORY ENVIRONMENTREGULATORY PROCESSESREGULATORY QUALITYREGULATORY REQUIREMENTSREGULATORY SYSTEMSRESULTRESULTSRULE OF LAWSEARCHSERVICE DELIVERYSERVICE QUALITYTECHNOLOGICAL CHANGETELECOMMUNICATIONTRANSPARENCYTRANSPARENT GOVERNMENTWEBWORLDWIDE GOVERNANCE INDICATORS10.1596/1813-9450-7132