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The transparency trade-off: Public data openness and energy inequality
Moyuan Li1, Wei Jiang1, Donghua Yu2
1School of Economics, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China.
Journal of Environmental Management
|July 11, 2026
Summary
Government transparency reforms through public data openness improve efficiency but worsen household energy poverty. This digital governance shift disproportionately impacts vulnerable groups, raising concerns about distributional costs versus long-term benefits.
Area of Science:
- Digital Governance
- Energy Inequality
- Public Policy Analysis
Background:
- Digital governance initiatives aim to enhance government transparency and efficiency.
- Energy inequality remains a critical issue, particularly for vulnerable households.
- The interplay between digital reforms and energy access requires thorough investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine if public data openness reforms improve governance efficiency while increasing household energy inequality.
- To assess the distributional costs of efficiency gains in China's governance system.
- To determine if long-term environmental and governance benefits justify short-run costs.
Main Methods:
- Utilized micro-level data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) (2011-2020).
- Employed a multi-period difference-in-differences framework to analyze city-level public data platform rollouts.
- Constructed a Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index (MEPI) to measure household energy deprivation.
Main Results:
- Public data openness significantly increases household energy poverty and negatively impacts energy welfare.
- Adverse effects are concentrated among retired households and in cities with strict environmental mandates or limited resources.
- Mechanisms include strengthened informal environmental regulation and weakened energy subsidies due to shifted governmental focus.
Conclusions:
- Public data openness has a dual effect: promoting green transition and efficiency while exacerbating energy inequality.
- Policy recommendations include data-driven cost-sharing, offline proxy networks, and cadre evaluation systems prioritizing energy equality.
- Addressing the regressive shocks of digital and green transitions is crucial for vulnerable populations.
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