Doing Business

16 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

This series was discontinued after Doing Business 2020 (see statement: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/statement/2021/09/16/world-bank-group-to-discontinue-doing-business-report ). The goal of this series is to provide an objective basis for understanding and improving the regulatory environment for business. Each year, since the project began in 2003, Doing Business has presented a quantitative measure of regulations throughout the life cycle of small and medium-size domestic enterprises—key drivers of competition, growth, and job creation, especially in developing countries. This corporate flagship undergoes extensive internal and external review and is one of the key outputs of the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank.

Items in this collection

Now showing 1 - 10 of 16
  • Publication
    Doing Business 2020: Comparing Business Regulation in 190 Economies
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020) World Bank
    Doing Business 2020 is the 17th in a series of annual studies investigating the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. It provides quantitative indicators covering 12 areas of the business environment in 190 economies. The goal of the Doing Business series is to provide objective data for use by governments in designing sound business regulatory policies and to encourage research on the important dimensions of the regulatory environment for firms.
  • Publication
    Doing Business 2019: Training for Reform
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2019) World Bank
    Sixteenth in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 190 economies, Doing Business 2019 measures aspects of regulation affecting 10 areas of everyday business activity: • Starting a business • Dealing with construction permits • Getting electricity • Registering property • Getting credit • Protecting minority investors • Paying taxes • Trading across borders • Enforcing contracts • Resolving insolvency These areas are included in the distance to frontier score and ease of doing business ranking. Doing Business also measures features of labor market regulation, which is not included in these two measures. This edition also presents the findings of the pilot indicator entitled 'Contracting with the Government,' which aims at benchmarking the efficiency, quality and transparency of public procurement systems worldwide. The report updates all indicators as of May 1, 2018, ranks economies on their overall 'ease of doing business', and analyzes reforms to business regulation -- identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most. Doing Business illustrates how reforms in business regulations are being used to analyze economic outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and for the wider economy. It is a flagship product produced in partnership by the World Bank Group that garners worldwide attention on regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. Almost 140 economies have used the Doing Business indicators to shape reform agendas and monitor improvements on the ground.
  • Publication
    Doing Business 2018: Reforming to Create Jobs
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2018) World Bank
    Fifteen in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 190 economies, Doing Business 2018 measures aspects of regulation affecting 10 areas of everyday business activity: • Starting a business • Dealing with construction permits • Getting electricity • Registering property • Getting credit • Protecting minority investors • Paying taxes • Trading across borders • Enforcing contracts • Resolving insolvency These areas are included in the distance to frontier score and ease of doing business ranking. Doing Business also measures features of labor market regulation, which is not included in these two measures. The report updates all indicators as of June 1, 2017, ranks economies on their overall “ease of doing business”, and analyzes reforms to business regulation – identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most. Doing Business illustrates how reforms in business regulations are being used to analyze economic outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and for the wider economy. It is a flagship product produced in partnership by the World Bank Group that garners worldwide attention on regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. More than 137 economies have used the Doing Business indicators to shape reform agendas and monitor improvements on the ground. In addition, the Doing Business data has generated over 2,182 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals since its inception.
  • Publication
    Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2016-10-25) World Bank Group
    Fourteenth in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 190 economies, Doing Business 2017 measures aspects of regulation affecting 10 areas of everyday business activity: • Starting a business • Dealing with construction permits • Getting electricity • Registering property • Getting credit • Protecting minority investors • Paying taxes • Trading across borders • Enforcing contracts • Resolving insolvency. These areas are included in the distance to frontier score and ease of doing business ranking. Doing Business also measures features of labor market regulation, which is not included in these two measures. This year’s report introduces major improvements by expanding the paying taxes indicators to cover postfiling processes—tax audits, tax refunds and tax appeals—and presents analysis of pilot data on selling to the government which measures public procurement regulations. Also for the first time this year Doing Business collects data on Somalia. Using the data originally developed by Women, Business and the Law, this year for the first time Doing Business adds a gender component to three indicators—starting a business, registering property, and enforcing contracts—and finds that those economies which limit women’s access in these areas have fewer women working in the private sector both as employers and employees.
  • Publication
    Doing Business 2016: Measuring Regulatory Quality and Efficiency
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2016) World Bank Group
    Doing Business 2016 is the 13th publication in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 189 economies. This year the publication addresses regulations affecting 10 areas of everyday business activity including: Starting a business, Dealing with construction permits, Getting electricity, Registering property, Getting credit, Protecting minority investors, Paying taxes, Trading across borders, Enforcing contracts, Resolving insolvency. Doing Business 2016 updates all indicators as of June 1, 2015, ranks economies on their overall ease of doing business, and analyzes reforms to business regulation–identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most. This report illustrates how reforms in business regulations are being used to analyze economic outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and for the wider economy. It is a flagship product produced by the World Bank Group that garners worldwide attention on regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. More than 60 economies have used the Doing Business indicators to shape reform agendas and monitor improvements on the ground. In addition, the Doing Business data has generated over 2,100 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals since its inception.
  • Publication
    Doing Business 2015 : Going Beyond Efficiency
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2014-10-29) World Bank Group
    Twelfth in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 189 economies, Doing Business 2015 measures regulations affecting 10 areas of everyday business activity: • Starting a business; • Dealing with construction permits; • Getting electricity; • Registering property; • Getting credit; • Protecting minority investors; • Paying taxes; • Trading across borders; • Enforcing contracts; • Resolving insolvency. This year's report will present data for a second city for the 11 economies with more than 100 million inhabitants. These are Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, and the United States. Three of the 10 topics covered have been expanded, with further plans to expand on five additional indicators in next year's report. Additionally, the Doing Business rankings are now based on the distance to the frontier measure where each economy is evaluated based on how close their business regulations are to the best global practices. This provides a more precise view of each economy's performance and its improvement over time. The report updates all indicators as of June 1, 2014, ranks economies on their overall 'ease of doing business,' and analyzes reforms to business regulation – identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most. Doing Business illustrates how reforms in business regulations are being used to analyze economic outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and for the wider economy. It is a flagship product produced in partnership by the World Bank and IFC that garners worldwide attention on regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. More than 60 economies have used the Doing Business indicators to shape reform agendas and monitor improvements on the ground. In addition, the Doing Business data has generated over 870 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals since its inception.
  • Publication
    Doing Business 2014 : Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises
    (Washington, DC: World Bank Group, 2013-10-28) World Bank; International Finance Corporation
    Eleventh in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 185 economies, Doing Business 2014 measures regulations affecting 11 areas of everyday business activity: Starting a business, Dealing with construction permits, Getting electricity, Registering property, Getting credit, Protecting investors, Paying taxes, Trading across borders, Enforcing contracts, Closing a business, Employing workers. The report updates all indicators as of June 1, 2013, ranks economies on their overall “ease of doing business”, and analyzes reforms to business regulation – identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most. The Doing Business reports illustrate how reforms in business regulations are being used to analyze economic outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and for the wider economy. Doing Business is a flagship product by the World Bank and IFC that garners worldwide attention on regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. More than 60 economies use the Doing Business indicators to shape reform agendas and monitor improvements on the ground. In addition, the Doing Business data has generated over 870 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals since its inception.
  • Publication
    Doing Business 2013 : Smarter Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2013) International Finance Corporation; World Bank
    Tenth in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 185 economies, Doing Business 2013 measures regulations affecting 11 areas of everyday business activity: Starting a business, Dealing with construction permits, Getting electricity, Registering property, Getting credit, Protecting investors, Paying taxes, Trading across borders, Enforcing contracts, Closing a business, Employing workers. The report updates all indicators as of June 1, 2012, ranks economies on their overall “ease of doing business”, and analyzes reforms to business regulation – identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most. The Doing Business reports illustrate how reforms in business regulations are being used to analyze economic outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and for the wider economy. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the global Doing Business report. Doing Business is a flagship product by the World Bank and IFC that garners worldwide attention on regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. More than 60 economies use the Doing Business indicators to shape reform agendas and monitor improvements on the ground. In addition, the Doing Business data has generated over 870 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals since its inception.
  • Publication
    Doing Business 2012 : Doing Business in a More Transparent World
    (World Bank, 2012) International Finance Corporation; World Bank
    Ninth in a series of annual reports comparing business regulations in 183 economies, Doing Business 2012 measures regulations affecting 11 areas of everyday business activity: • starting a business • dealing with construction permits • employing workers • registering property • getting credit • protecting investors • paying taxes • trading across borders • enforcing contracts • closing a business • getting electricity The report updates all indicators as of June 1, 2011, ranks countries on their overall "ease of doing business", and analyzes reforms to business regulation—identifying which countries are strengthening their business environment the most. Doing Business 2012 includes a new set of indicators on the time, steps, and cost for a private business to get an electricity connection. The data on connection services can inform utilities, regulators and governments seeking to strengthen the performance of the electricity sector. Drawing on a now longer time series, this year's report introduces a measure to illustrate how the regulatory environment for business has changed in each economy since Doing Business 2006 was published in 2005. A new "distance to frontier" measure complements the aggregate ranking on the ease of doing business, which benchmarks each economy's current performance on the indicators against that of all other economies in the sample for a given year. A fundamental premise of Doing Business is that economic activity requires good rules that are transparent and accessible to all. Such regulations should be efficient, striking a balance between safeguarding some important aspects of the business environment and avoiding distortions that impose unreasonable costs on businesses. Where business regulation is burdensome and competition limited, success depends more on whom you know than on what you can do. But where regulations are relatively easy to comply with and accessible to all who need to use them, anyone with talent and a good idea should be able to start and grow a business in the formal sector. “The Doing Business report, which was started in 2003, has become one of the key ways in which the bank and other observers gauge business climate within developing countries...” -- The Financial Times “[Doing Business started] as a way to encourage countries to reduce obstacles to entrepreneurship. Developing countries compete to land a spot on the top 10 list of most-improving countries because it is seen as a way to get attention and investment.” -- The Wall Street Journal “[Doing Business] has succeeded in putting the issue of business red tape on the international political agenda.” -- The Economist
  • Publication
    Doing Business 2011 : Making a Difference for Entrepreneurs - Comparing Business Regulation in 183 Economies
    (World Bank, 2010) International Finance Corporation; World Bank
    Doing Business 2011: making a difference for entrepreneurs is the eighth in a series of annual reports investigating regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 183 economies, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, over time. A set of regulations affecting 11 areas of the life of a business's are covered: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business. Data in Doing Business 2011 are current as of June 1, 2010. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms have worked, where, and why. The paper includes the following headings: overview, starting a business, dealing with construction permits, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and closing a business.