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EuroWire – January 2012
35
Transatlantic cable
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 US just makes it into the
Forbes
top ten for business in 2011
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