The World Bank’s annual “Doing Business” rankings have long been a favourite grousing point for policymakers in the developing world and a regular source of tension between the bank and its member countries.
So much so that China – disenchanted with its persistently low place in the rankings – tried to kill them altogether in 2013.
The rankings’ defenders argue there is a good reason for why the annual Doing Business report is the bank’s most popular: It offers an unvarnished assessment of economies’ relative standings in the world when it comes to bureaucratic barriers to business. And that, the defenders contend, makes it a valuable policy tool
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