Understanding freedom of information requests: predictors of request for public information to municipalities in Chile

Abstract

Freedom of Information Acts (FOIA) have been adopted in many countries to promote state transparency, engage citizens in public affairs, and fo ster public accountability. However, FOIA impflementation has not been without criticism, specifically for the information request system and the administrative burdens it can create for local governments. Based on the theoretical premises of both citizen participation and public transparency, this article focuses on supply and demand variables that could predict the use of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to municipalities in Chile. The results show that municipal income, social and political participation, poverty rate and, to some extent, local compliance with information disclosure can predict the number of FOI requests to a municipality. These findings provide new evidence on FOI request usage, providing public policy recommendations to improve FOIA implementation in local governments.