Publication: Art or Science? Measuring the Impact of Business Environment Reforms at the Subnational Level
Date
2009-05
ISSN
Published
2009-05
Author(s)
Thomas, Margo
Cordova-Novion, Cesar
Batic, Ana
Abstract
As the Western Balkan economies look
toward integration into the European Union, each is striving
to increase its competitiveness and improve its economic
growth. Considerable momentum has been developing on
business enabling environment (BEE) reform. The overall
doing business rankings for the countries in this region are
in the third and fourth quartiles for 2009, showing plenty
of room for improvement. Investors identified improvements
in regulations affecting businesses as a key priority for
upgrading the business enabling environment in the region.
In this smart lesson, the author shares the experience of
adapting the standard cost model to review regulations and
measure impact in supporting BEE reforms at the subnational
level in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia. The
authors have adapted a relatively sophisticated tool, and
applied it to support BEE reforms to: (1) measure the impact
of the reforms in terms of cost savings for businesses; (2)
help drive the reform agenda by enabling policymakers to
build stakeholder support and target reforms recognizing
that 'what gets measured, gets done'; and (3)
support the regional monitoring and evaluation framework.
Citation
“Thomas, Margo; Cordova-Novion, Cesar; Batic, Ana. 2009. Art or Science? Measuring the Impact of Business Environment Reforms at the Subnational Level. IFC Smart Lessons Brief. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/b81a7fb3-34e2-5b1b-9339-d4e9e25abbd9 License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO.”
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