EFFECTS OF TRANSPARENCY ON BRAZILIAN CHILD MORTALITY: A DISCONTINUOUS REGRESSION APPROACH

Abstract

Transparency and guaranteeing access to information are crucial measures for strengthening democracy and improving public management. The debate on public transparency in Brazil is still restricted to aspects of budget and financial execution of public entities. The Access to Information Law (LAI) sanctioned on November 18, 2011, came into force on May 16, 2012 and regulated the right of access to data and information of public entities, consolidating the transparency process. The Law advances the concept of a tool for improving public management and the quality of services provided to citizens. The present work seeks to analyze the effect of the Law on Access to Information on infant mortality. The empirical strategy uses the discontinuous regression model, through a municipal data panel between the years 2006 to 2016. The results show that there are reductions in child deaths and reach a percentage between 28.5% to 29.7% for children from 0 to 27 days of life, and approximately 12.7% for children between 28 and 360 days of life.