Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Tweet[IWS] IFC/World Bank: DOING BUSINESS 2014: UNDERSTANDING REGULATIONS FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZE ENTERPRISES [29 October 2013]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
International Finance Corporation (IFC)/World Bank
DOING BUSINESS 2014: UNDERSTANDING REGULATIONS FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZE ENTERPRISES [29 October 2013]
http://doingbusiness.org/reports/global-reports/doing-business-2014
or
[full-text, 316 pages]
Press Release 28 October 2013
‘Doing Business’ Research Documents 18 Percent Increase in Business Regulation Reforms, Helping Entrepreneurs; Trend to Reduce Burdens Especially Noticeable In Africa
Overview
Doing Business 2014: Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises assesses regulations affecting domestic firms in 189 economies and ranks the economies in 10 areas of business regulation, such as starting a business, resolving insolvency and trading across borders. This year’s report data cover regulations measured from June 2012 through May 2013. The report is the 11th edition of the Doing Business series.
Main Findings
- Ukraine, Rwanda, the Russian Federation, the Philippines, Kosovo, Djibouti, Côte d’Ivoire, Burundi, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Guatemala are among the economies improving the most in 2012/13 in areas tracked by Doing Business.
- Worldwide, 114 economies implemented 238 regulatory reforms in 2012/13 making it easier to do business as measured by Doing Business – 18% more reforms than in the previous year. Read about reforms.
- Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 9 of the 20 economies narrowing the gap with the regulatory frontier the most since 2009. Low-income economies narrowed this gap twice as much as high-income economies did.
- Singapore topped the global ranking on the ease of doing business. Joining it on the list of the top 10 economies with the most business-friendly regulatory environments are Hong Kong SAR, China; New Zealand; the United States; Denmark; Malaysia; the Republic of Korea; Georgia; Norway; and the United Kingdom.
- Doing Business collected data for the first time this year in four economies: Libya, Myanmar, San Marino, and South Sudan.
- Case studies highlighting good practices in 6 of the areas measured by Doing Business indicator sets are featured in the report: the role of minimum capital requirements in starting a business; risk-based inspections in dealing with construction permits; the cost structure in getting electricity; single window systems in trading across borders; e-filing and e-payment in paying taxes; and e-courts in enforcing contracts. See all case studies.
- This year’s report presents a separate chapter about research on the effects of business regulations. There is a rapidly growing body of empirical research examining the impact of improvements in many of the regulatory areas tracked by the Doing Business indicators, and this chapter provides a useful—and encouraging—synthesis. Read research papers.
o Key Sections from the Doing Business 2014 report (PDF format)
o 
Overview
o About Doing Business: measuring for impact
o Research on the effects of business regulations
o Summaries of Doing Business reforms
o Topic chapters:
o Dealing with construction permits
o Annex: Employing workers
o Case Studies
o Improving court efficiency: the Republic of Korea’s e-court experience
o Implementing trade single windows in Singapore, Colombia and Azerbaijan
o Implementing electronic tax filing and payments in Malaysia
o Tackling high electricity connection costs: Trinidad and Tobago’s new approach
o What role should risk-based inspections play in construction?
o Why are minimum capital requirements a concern for entrepreneurs?
________________________________________________________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
