Doing Business 2012  
World Bank
World Bank Publications
Ninth in a series of annual reports comparing business regulations in 183 economies, Doing Business 2012 measures regulations affecting 11 areas of everyday business activity:  starting a business dealing with construction permits employing workers registering property getting credit protecting investors paying taxes trading across borders enforcing contracts closing a business getting electricity  The report updates all indicators as of June 1, 2011, ranks countries on their overall "ease of doing business" and analyzes reforms to business regulation identifying which countries are strengthening their business environment the most. Doing Business 2012 includes a new set of indicators on the time, steps and cost for a private business to get an electricity connection. The data on connection services can inform utilities, regulators and governments seeking to strengthen the performance of the electricity sector. The Doing Business reports illustrate how reforms in business regulations are being used to analyze economic outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and for the wider economy. Doing Business 2011 The Doing Business report, which was started in 2003, has become one of the key ways in which the bank and other observers gauge business climate within developing countries...  The Financial Times, 11/4/10 [Doing Business started] as a way to encourage countries to reduce obstacles to entrepreneurship. Developing countries compete to land a spot on the top 10 list of most-improving countries because it is seen as a way to get attention and investment.  The Wall Street Journal, 11/3/10 [Doing Business] has succeeded in putting the issue of business red tape on the international political agenda.  Economist, 11/4/10