Networks and Yardstick Competition in the Digital Age: Evidence from Italy

Networks and Yardstick Competition in the Digital Age: Evidence from Italy | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Networks and Yardstick Competition in the Digital Age: Evidence from Italy Ben Lockwood, Francesco Porcelli, Michela Redoano, Antonio Schiavone This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4252336/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This paper examines the impact of OpenCivitas, a data disclosure program introduced by the Italian government that allows mayors to access detailed expenditure data of other municipalities through a dedicated website. Through analysing website views, we construct a directed network and investigate the characteristics and strategic behaviors of mayors in this network. Mayors in the network are on average younger, more educated, often from larger cities and are more likely to be affiliated to traditional parties, although populist parties are the ones usually relying more on the Web for communication and political activities. Mayors in this network do not engage in yardstick competition with neighboring municipalities as the other mayors do; rather, they interact with each other despite the physical distance. We find that the network existed prior to the website opening, but after data disclosure, yardstick competition within the network becomes strongly driven by mayors who are up for re-election, which was not the case before. For the other municipalities, yardstick competition between neighbours remains uncorrelated with mayors’ term limits. JEL codes: H11, H71, H77 yardstick competition network open data property tax municipalities Italy Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4252336","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":290621237,"identity":"5951e0fb-9f88-4565-91e8-8d76992b568c","order_by":0,"name":"Ben Lockwood","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Warwick","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ben","middleName":"","lastName":"Lockwood","suffix":""},{"id":290621239,"identity":"09f5888d-b1c7-466f-a8af-5573c945a88c","order_by":1,"name":"Francesco Porcelli","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Bari Aldo Moro","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Francesco","middleName":"","lastName":"Porcelli","suffix":""},{"id":290621241,"identity":"13a84138-5279-4e98-ae68-da1aaf102798","order_by":2,"name":"Michela Redoano","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"University of Warwick","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Michela","middleName":"","lastName":"Redoano","suffix":""},{"id":290621244,"identity":"b55d7585-33e5-4355-b6fa-2bf5ea7810d4","order_by":3,"name":"Antonio Schiavone","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Bologna","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Antonio","middleName":"","lastName":"Schiavone","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-04-11 12:06:52","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4252336/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4252336/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":59743667,"identity":"2d12c639-91bb-468b-9ce5-4065bfd49707","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-07-05 16:07:32","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":5212752,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"YardistickCompetitionITAX.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4252336/v1_covered_883cd940-4865-4fd5-b856-c9f416e66c4b.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Networks and Yardstick Competition in the Digital Age: Evidence from Italy","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"yardstick competition, network, open data, property tax, municipalities, Italy","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4252336/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4252336/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis paper examines the impact of OpenCivitas, a data disclosure program introduced by the Italian government that allows mayors to access detailed expenditure data of other municipalities through a dedicated website. 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