Doing Business in 2006

Book excerpt: This publication is the third in a series of annual reports giving a comparative analysis of business regulations and their enforcement across 155 countries and over time. Comparable data indicators are given for 10 topics: starting a business, dealing with licences, hiring and firing workers, registering property, getting credit, investment protection, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and closing a business. These indicators are used to assess socio-economic outcomes including levels of unemployment and poverty, productivity, investment and corruption; and to identify which regulatory measures enhance business activity and those that work to constrain it. This is a co-publication of the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation.