2019 Dataset of Participatory Budgeting in Italy

The mapping procedure adopted a sampling frame for Italian municipalities based on the ISTAT list of municipalities in the year 2019, setting a threshold limit for inhabitants. The exclusion criterion was set at 3,000 inhabitants (and later decreased to 2,000). Moreover, we set a time focus on 2018-2020, although the researcher could record all past experiences (i.e. before 2018). During the period May 1 – July 31, 2020, we divided all municipalities above 3,000 inhabitants into 12 groups via randomized selection. A group of municipalities was assigned to each researcher. By the end of the period, some groups had not concluded because some researchers opted out and thus municipalities were reallocated (see var. MR). During the period September 1 – October 15, 2020, we lowered the threshold to 2,000 inhabitants. This feature has to be duly considered when running statistics. We gathered information on the presence of PB using a standard procedure of web-search based on keywords. We then identified the crucial key words composed of two possibilities for the first mapping level (more stringent) (variable MM=2): •“Comune di + [name of the municipality]” & “Bilancio Partecipativo” •“Comune di + [name of the municipality]” & “Bilancio Partecipato” and two possibilities for the second mapping level (looser) (variable MM=1): •Comune di [name of the municipality] & “Bilancio Partecipativo” •Comune di [name of the municipality] & “Bilancio Partecipato” The methodology then required the researcher to spend 10 minutes on each Municipality to reach a positive result, focusing either on the first page or on the first few pages. Thereafter, either the researcher moved to the next case, or she could dwell on the documentation produced by the PB in the municipality. All the information obtained on the web was inserted in two documents: the database and a second document gathering qualitative information about the experience, which is available upon request (see oibp.bipart.it).