Colleagues,
This morning I ran across the following very disturbing post on Tyler Cowen's blog -- indicating that the World Bank is facing pressure to eliminate the *Doing Business* report and is considering bowing to this pressure. If you find this report a valuable source of insight into host
country regulatory environment, as I do, please take a moment to send an email voicing support for *Doing Business* to the address highlighted below. Thanks!
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Save the World Bank's *Doing Business* report
by Tyler Cowen<
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/author/tyler-cowen>
on May 14, 2013 at 1:05 am in Data
Source<
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/category/data-source>
, Economics<
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/category/economics>
, Uncategorized<
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/category/uncategorized>
| Permalink<
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2013/05/the-world-banks-doing-business-report.html>
Yesterday I received an email from Michael Klein:
We are writing to you about the World Bank's Doing Business report.
Published since 2003 the report benchmarks 185 countries annually on key
dimensions of the legal and regulatory environment for small businesses.
It has supported numerous reforms all over the world helping small
businesses and employment.
There is currently a serious risk that the report may be abolished or
severely curtailed as part of an ongoing review that will be finished in
the next few weeks. The report has always been subject to controversy as
it highlights shortcomings that countries may not appreciate. The World
Bank's President and its Board of Executive Directors will consider the
future of the report in the next few months.
*We would like to ask you to support an open letter to the World Bank's
President and its Executive Directors supporting the Doing Business project
and recommending general directions for the future.* The *letter (see below
*) is informed by our review of the arguments about Doing Business
(attached).
This is our private initiative and without any institutional affiliation.
*Please, reply by return email*, if you agree to support the open letter.
If you wish, indicate in which capacity you want to be mentioned. If you
want to forward this email to ask others also to support the letter,
please, ask them to reply to this email address (
helpdoingbusinessreport@gmail.com<
https://bl2prd0511.outlook.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=ttf3yM7TwEuL6CiklQ4imtHMkUNSI9AIYDjj2_5tVeis-lQO3V0eXG5-HAk-dBsf4KVPY2lnPk4.&URL=mailto%3ahelpdoingbusinessreport%40gmail.com>
) so that we can keep an accurate record of support.
I support the report very much and I have found it useful in my own work.
It is one of the best things the World Bank does, and you can read more
about the report
here<
http://www.doingbusiness.org/~/media/GIAWB/Doing%20Business/Documents/Annual-Reports/English/DB13-Chapters/About-Doing-Business.pdf>.
Please do email at the above address if you think your support can be
useful. Here is some back
story<
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&q=world+bank+doing+business+china&oq=world+bank+doing+business+china&gs_l=news-cc.3..43j43i53.1588.8405.0.8637.48.10.8.30.35.1.132.1010.2j8.10.0...0.0...1ac.1.ZEG8jar7VEE>
on
how China is seeking to push around the Bank on the ratings. Here is FT
coverage of the
same<
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/a1ca36d2-b654-11e2-b1e5-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2TChY4sLP>
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