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Which SUVs are most likely to rollover? What cities have the unhealthiest drinking water? Which factories are the most dangerous polluters? What cereals are the most nutritious? In recent decades, governments have sought to provide answers to such critical questions through public disclosure to force manufacturers, water authorities, and others to improve their products and practices. Corporate financial disclosure, nutritional labels, and school report cards are examples of such targeted transparency policies. At best, they create a light-handed approach to governance that improves markets, enriches public discourse, and empowers citizens. But such policies are frequently ineffective or counterproductive. Based on an analysis of eighteen U.S. and international policies, Full Disclosure shows that information is often incomplete, incomprehensible, or irrelevant to consumers, investors, workers, and community residents. To be successful, transparency policies must be accurate, keep ahead of disclosers' efforts to find loopholes, and, above all, focus on the needs of ordinary citizens.
Win-win book for ordinary citizens and policymakersReviewed by J. Zheng, 2007-06-07
"Full Disclosure: Perils and Promise of Transparency" (Fung,
Graham, and Weil 2007) is undoubtedly a first-rate book on a
regulatory tool that is dynamic in nature. The authors acknowledge
the promising, but sometimes perilous transparency(information
disclosure) tool as a complement to the existing standards and
market based policies in order to redress certain policy problems.
The authors nicely interplay the factors of politics, economics,
and cognitive powers of varying stakeholders to analyze the
development and sustainability of existing and future domestic and
global transparency policies. This book is not only a page turner,
but a power analytical framework for analyzing the effectiveness
and efficiency of a given transparency policy, the likes of
financial disclosure laws and the global reporting of infectious
diseases.
The authors present their arguments and evidence in a concise and
understandable format which will allow ordinary citizens with
little or no understanding of economics and governance to find this
book a powerful guide and hopefully; after reading, become active
participants in the movement for greater transparency in both the
public and private sectors. Thus, this is a win-win book for both
citizens and policymakers alike.
Lastly, the authors critically examine the advances in information
technology like that of the Internet and related technologies such
as instant messaging, online blogs, and online book reviews (here),
which led to the rise of a third generation transparency systems
that differs from the right-to-know and targeted transparency
policies, the first and second generation transparency policies,
respectively, because of the collaborative information sharing
aspects of the new system.
On a side note, this book is right in time as there is a current
debate on the medical care quality and cost disparity in the state
of Massachusetts, US, which underscores the importance of
transparency policies to improve a service quality that have might
long term health care impacts for patients. All in all, this one of
a kind book will serve as a guide for many generations to
come.
With regards to Joel M. Kaufman May 8th, 2007's comment on the
authors' limited awareness of corruption at different government
agencies, it is possible that the previous commenter did not take
into account the multi-layered definition of the politically
correct term: "diverging interests of policymakers and other
stakeholders of information disclosure," which the authors have
reiterated on numerous occasions using similar phrases.
clear signals, not noiseReviewed by Susan Anderson, 2007-05-22
What information sends clear signals to consumers and voters so they can make good decisions, and what is just more noise? Fung, Graham and Weil have carefully analyzed a range of what they call "targeted transparency" systems - from orange terror alerts to school performance ratings to soup labels - to identify the features of the systems that work. Although generally written for governmental policy makers, it's important reading for anyone who cares about a local, state, or federal issue and wants government to do a better job of informing citizens.
Good topic, some problemsReviewed by Joel M. Kauffman, 2007-05-08
Good discussion of how hard it is to find data on the safety of
things from cars to food to investments. Goes into great detail
about how to make interpretable ratings or labels, and what
organizations should coperate to do them.
Authors prove own point by missing out on key data on several
topics, and merely quote dogma. For example, the supposed dangers
of "sodium" meaning sodium ion or salt (pp21,84,111) ignore key
data that salt intake affects people both ways, and 10g/day is not
that dangerous. See Elliott P et al. (1988). Intersalt: an
international study of electrolyte excretion and blood pressure.
Results for 24 hour urinary sodium and potassium excretion. British
Medical Journal 297:319-328.
Authors quote dogma on high-fat foods and the supposed dangers of
saturated fat (p33,53,84,111). See Enig M, Know Your Fats, 1999;
Allan & Lutz, Life Without Bread, 2000; Ravnskov U, The
Cholesterol Myths, Colpo A, The Great Cholesterol Con.
Authors cite fiber as a good thing (p88), but studies show some
forms are beneficial for some conditions in some people, not nearly
all, and many people are worse off with higher fiber intake. See
Montonen J, Knekt P, Järvinen R, Aromaa A, Reunanen A (2003).
Whole-grain and fiber intake and the incidence of type 2 diabetes.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 77:622-629; Fuchs CS,
Giovannucci EL, Colditz GA, Hunter DJ, Stampfer MJ, Rosner B,
Speizer FE, Willett WC (1999). Dietary Fiber and the Risk of
Colorectal Cancer and Adenoma in Women. New England Journal of
Medicine 348(3):169-176.
Authors treat Material Safety Data Sheets descriptions of chemical
hazards seriously. Try looking up salt, sugar powder and toluene
MSDSs. You will see how hazardous these valuable substances are
made to look. Then look up the sheet for bromine, which is really
dangerous, and see that it is presented in much the same manner as
toluene.
Authors call "speeding" a major cause of traffic crashes. Using the
definition that "speeding" is driving faster than a posted speed
limit, it is obvious that doing so on a road with light traffic in
daylight is not dangerous and may prevent boredom. The definitive
work was done from 1958-63 where the P. I. was Dr. Alfred L.
Moseley working from the Harvard School of Public Health under a
USPHS grant, found that fatal and serious crashes had multiple
causes, including vehicle failure, weather, road hazards, driver
error, but "speeding" was not one of them.
The authors seem unaware of the corruption at many of the
government agencies. Just to pick on the FDA see Cohen JS,
Overdose, 2001; Haley D, Politics in Healing, 2000; Moore TJ,
Prescription for Disaster, 1998; DeGrandpre R, The Cult of
Pharmacology, 2006.
Minor fussing over formats and inputs will not give us the clear
disclosure we need because of the overwhelming corruption of
responsible agencies as well as vendors.
