Abstract
Transparency in elections is vital for fostering democratic accountability, enabling voters to make informed decisions, and ensuring the selection of competent politicians. This paper evaluates the impact of the 2019 Italian law “Spazzacorrotti” (“corrupts-sweeper”), which required candidates in local elections in municipalities with populations over 15,000 to publish their curriculum vitae and criminal records. To isolate the law’s effects, I employ a Difference in Discontinuity design on a sample of electoral outcomes between 2013 and 2024. My findings reveal that the Spazzacorrotti law increased voter turnout by three percentage points and led to a higher educational level among elected officials, alongside a reduced re-election rate for incumbent local councillors. Additionally, the effects were mediated by high media coverage and social capital, with stronger impacts observed in cities with greater newspaper readership and collective welfare values. These findings highlight how increasing transparency is a cost-effective policy to boost democratic participation and the selection of qualified candidates.