The Austin American-Statesman ran a story today about whether or not companies receiving public money through the state’s Emerging Technology Fund should have to disclose publicly their employment figures. Some recipients are arguing that job counts amount to market intelligence that could be used against them by competitors. While I have a little sympathy for that argument, I’m solidly in the disclosure camp on this one. If you accept public funding, then you can consider the public an interested party–it’s no different than disclosing that information to a bank or any other potential investor. Now, the bank isn’t going to publicize that information to your competitors, but that’s the difference between the public sector and the private sector. Take the money, agree to the disclosure.

Yes, we treat other recipients of public funding differently. For example, researchers at universities are usually not required to disclose intellectual property, military contractors are protected under national security, etc. But I’m not convinced that asking companies receiving public funding for basic employment information used to verify contractual obligations is unreasonable, or nearly as sensitive as people are claiming.

There are just too many examples of programs gone awry without proper disclosure, and economic development cannot afford to take too many more hits in this budgetary environment.