Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Figures and Tables -- Preface -- 1 Governance by Transparency -- The New Power of Information -- Transparency Informs Choice -- Transparency as Missed Opportunity -- A Real-Time Experiment -- Transparency Success and Failure -- How the Book is Organized -- 2 An Unlikely Policy Innovation -- An Unplanned Invention -- The Struggle Toward Openness -- A Slow March Toward Right-to-Know -- Targeted Transparency Emerges -- Why Disclosure? -- Imperfections of Real-World Information -- Difficulties of Comprehension -- 3 Designing Transparency Policies -- Improving On-the-Job Safety: One Goal, Many Methods -- Disclosure to Create Incentives for Change -- What Targeted Transparency Policies Have in Common -- Policy Purpose -- Specified Targets -- Defined Scope -- Structure and Vehicles for Information -- Enforcement -- Standards, Market Incentives, or Targeted Transparency? -- 4 What Makes Transparency Work? -- A Complex Chain Reaction -- New Information Embedded in User Decisions -- Value -- Compatibility -- Comprehension -- New Information Embedded in Discloser Decisions -- Response Value -- Response Compatibility -- Response Comprehensibility -- Obstacles: Preferences, Biases, and Games -- Goal Conflict -- Misinterpretation -- How Do Transparency Policies Measure Up? -- Highly Effective Systems -- Corporate Financial Disclosure -- Restaurant Hygiene Disclosure -- Mortgage Lending Disclosure -- Moderately Effective Systems -- Nutritional Labeling -- Toxic Releases Disclosure -- Workplace Hazards Disclosure -- Ineffective Systems -- Patient Safety Disclosure -- Plant Closing, Mass Layoff Disclosure -- Crafting Effective Transparency Policies -- 5 What Makes Transparency Sustainable? -- Crisis Drives Financial Disclosure Improvements -- Sustainable Policies -- The Politics of Disclosure.

Humble Beginnings: Prospects for Sustainable Transparency -- Two Illustrations -- Shifting Conditions Drive Changes in Sustainability -- Changing Costs and Benefits for Disclosers -- Changing Costs and Benefits for Users -- The Importance of Intermediaries -- 6 International Transparency -- How Do International Transparency Policies Work? -- Why Now? -- From Private Committee to Public Mandate: International Corporate Financial Reporting -- A Growing Information Problem Creates Costly Confusion -- Regulators Compete to Control International Transparency -- Multinational Companies Embrace Transparency -- Influential Groups Represent Users' Interests -- Crises Add Momentum for Rigorous Reporting -- Countervailing Pressures Reduce Harmonization -- Legitimacy Issues Undermine Transparency Efforts -- Are International Accounting Standards Effective? -- Improving a Moribund System: International Disease Reporting -- The Limits of International Transparency: Labeling Genetically Modified Foods -- 7 Toward Collaborative Transparency -- Innovation at the Edge -- Technology Expands Capacities of Users, Disclosers, and Government -- Information Users Develop New Skills and Habits -- Businesses Gain New Challengers and Choices -- Governments Adopt Information Technologies -- Four Emerging Policies -- User-Centered Transparency to Improve Environmental Disclosure -- Online Polling and Hospital Ranking to Improve Medical Care -- Collaborative Transparency to Improve Auto Safety -- Collaborative Transparency to Improve School Performance -- Challenges to Collaborative Transparency -- New Roles for Users, Disclosers, and Government -- Looking Ahead: Complementary Generations of Transparency -- 8 Targeted Transparency in the Information Age -- Two Possible Futures -- When Transparency Won't Work -- Crafting Effective Policies -- The Road Ahead.

Appendix: Eighteen Major Cases -- Targeted Transparency in the United States -- Reducing Risks to the Public -- Disclosing Corporate Finances to Reduce Risks to Investors -- Disclosing Chemical Hazards to Reduce Workplace Health and Safety Risks -- Disclosing Toxic Releases to Reduce Pollution -- Disclosing Nutritional Information to Reduce Disease -- Disclosing Medical Mistakes to Reduce Deaths and Injuries -- Disclosing Sex Offenders' Residences to Improve Public Safety -- Disclosing Contaminants to Improve Drinking Water Safety -- Disclosing Restaurant Hygiene to Protect Public Health -- Disclosing Rollover Propensities to Improve Auto Safety -- Disclosing Terrorism Threats to Improve Public Safety -- Improving the Quality and Fairness of Critical Services and Processes -- Disclosing Union Finances to Minimize Corruption -- Disclosing Campaign Contributions to Reduce Corruption -- Disclosing Lending Practices to Reduce Discrimination -- Disclosing Plant Closings and Layoffs to Reduce Community Disruptions -- Disclosing School Performance to Improve Public Education -- Targeted Transparency in the International Context -- Harmonizing Disclosure of Corporate Finances to Reduce Risks to Investors -- Disclosing International Infectious Disease Outbreaks to Protect Public Health -- Labeling Genetically Modified Foods to Protect Health and the Environment -- Notes -- Preface -- Chapter 1. Governance by Transparency -- Chapter 2. An Unlikely Policy Innovation -- Chapter 3. Designing Transparency Policies -- Chapter 4. What Makes Transparency Work? -- Chapter 5. What Makes Transparency Sustainable? -- Chapter 6. International Transparency -- Chapter 7. Toward Collaborative Transparency -- Chapter 8. Targeted Transparency in the Information Age -- Appendix. Eighteen Major Cases -- Bibliography -- Index.