Belmont University

"Doing Business 2007" Rankings Released

The 2007 version of the Doing Business rankings have been released. This is an annual report supported by the World Bank and the IFC.

How this ranking works (from their website):

The Doing Business database provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement. The Doing Business indicators are comparable across 175 economies. They indicate the regulatory costs of business and can be used to analyze specific regulations that enhance or constrain investment, productivity, and growth.

Taxes and regulation are the two biggest policy issues that predict entrepreneurial activity worldwide. Less lower and simpler tax systems and fewer regulations are among the most powerful tools for true economic development. That is what makes this ranking one of the most valid ways of looking at entrepreneurial support. Too many others are laced with superfluous measures dealing with social policy that have nothing to do with entrepreneurial support.

This year's top ten are as follows:

1- Singapore
2- New Zealand
3- USA
4- Canada
5- Hong Kong (China)
6- United Kingdom
7- Denmark
8- Australia
9- Norway
10 - Ireland

The US had one glaring low mark: the regulatory cost of paying taxes. With over 60,000 pages of tax code, this comes as no surprise. What the US needs is a new, simple, fair, and politician-proof tax system. Perhaps something like the Fair Tax?

Georgia, Romania, and Mexico made the most regulatory reform last year. China and Eastern Europe were also among the top regulatory reformers.

The website also has a business law library, which "is the largest free online collection of business laws and regulations."



Posted by Jeff Cornwall on September 7, 2006 03:24 PM |

Comments

I'm actually surprised that the USA ranked higher than China. But I guess that's a good thing.

I don't believe the "fair tax" would generate enough revenue to effectively manage our government and maintain the services that citizens expect. Nor would abolishing the IRS do much benefit. Who would collect the taxes and investigate tax evaders? There would still have to be corporate taxes.

Birdied by: Tim | September 13, 2006 12:35 PM

hi
what are the criterias for ranking the top 10 countries ?
thanks

Birdied by: david tsang | September 24, 2006 01:20 PM

Go to the links I have in the post and you will see the full methodology.

Jeff

Birdied by: Jeff | September 25, 2006 06:36 AM

Tap it in and Comment, Please

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