EoW January 2012

Transatlantic cable

The US just makes it into the Forbes top ten for business in 2011

as less or more conducive to the start-up and operation of a local rm. The most recent report, published 20 th October and re ecting data measured from June 2010 through May 2011, covered 183 countries. The US was found to be the fourth-best place in the world to do business in, coming in behind Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand. While that is a respectable showing, especially in light of its recent recession, the US fared less well in comparison with other countries as a place for starting a business. In 2007 it was No 4 in this category; in 2011 it was in 13 th place. Most tellingly, perhaps, starting up a company in the US now costs twice as much as it did ve years ago – 1.4% of per capita income versus 0.7 percent. Writing in Forbes , Scott Shane noted that, given the breadth of the World Bank survey, the US needn’t “get out the worry beads yet.” But in his view a 13 th place showing in the new-business category should cause Washington to take notice. Few American entrepreneurs may be moving elsewhere to start companies. But Mr Shane cautioned that policies to attract more foreign entrepreneurs to the United States will falter if those entrepreneurs nd it easier and cheaper to start their businesses in Australia and Canada. (“Is the US Worsening as a Place to Start a Business?,” 14 th November). † Doing Business ranks economies in ten areas of business regulation, such as resolving insolvency and trading across borders. In its latest edition the report from the World Bank expanded to include the indicator “ease of getting an electrical connection.” It found that electricity hook-up is most e cient in Iceland, followed by Germany, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

The World Bank and Forbes have their headquarters in Washington, DC and New York City, respectively. But the US apparently enjoys less of a home-court advantage with the magazine that bills itself as “the Capitalist Tool” than with the international lending institution for capitalist programmes.The Forbes top ten for business in 2011 are: (1) Canada (2) New Zealand (3) Hong Kong (4) Ireland [In late 2010, Dublin agreed to a $112 billion loan package from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to further increase the capitalisation of its banking sector and avoid default on sovereign debt. The government also initiated a four-year austerity plan to cut an additional $20 billion from its budget. A return to modest growth was expected for 2011.]

(5) Denmark (6) Singapore (7) Sweden (8) Norway (9) Britain

[London in 2010 initiated a ve-year austerity programme aimed at lowering a budget de cit of over 10 per cent of Gross Domestic Product to nearly one per cent by 2015. Although Britain remains outside the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), the Bank of England periodically coordinates interest rate moves with the European Central Bank.] (10) the United States Dorothy Fabian – USA Editor

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EuroWire – January 2012