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Astonishingly ignorant @Oxfam clip on Brazilian poverty

Oxfam International managed to post a video clip blaming Brazilian poverty on inequality then tweet the same day on an important cause of poverty in developing nations. That important cause was the difficulty of establishing property rights in poor countries.

Brazil is a terrible place to start a business, register property, pay taxes and trade across borders to name but a few of many deficiencies is a business environment. Little wonder that it is poor because of all these factors that are within the remit of its government.

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Source: Doing Business in Brazil – World Bank Group.

Oxfam International would serve the poor of Brazil and the  rest of the Third World far better by spending more time complaining about bad business environments.

Countries that embraced capitalism such as in East Asia did far better than those in Latin America that hesitated and preferred crony capitalism.

Oxfam mislead its readers about the degree of inequality in Latin America compared to the past.

Numbers of days needed to start a business in high income countries

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Source: Historical Data – Doing Business- World Bank Group.

Number of procedures required to start a business in high income countries

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Source: Historical Data – Doing Business- World Bank Group.

The cost of starting a business in Europe and North America

These measures including the full cost of starting a business. Not only are official fees included, the opportunity cost of the waiting times for various permits are issued are added as well.

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Source: Markus Poschke, Entry regulation: Still costly | VOX, CEPR’s Policy Portal (2011).

Note: The value of time is set to a business day’s output per day of waiting time at 22 business days per month.

 

Official and legal fees of starting a new business in OECD countries, World Bank Doing Business rankings, 2016

In some countries, the official and legal fees of setting up a business are trivial but in other countries they start to mount up.

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Source: Data from the Doing Business Project – World Bank Group.

Paid-in minimum capital (% of income per capita) required to start a business in OECD countries

The most mystifying bureaucratic rule I have come across is in Western Europe. A number of these countries require entrepreneurs deposit a minimum sum of money in a bank or before a notary up to a month before registration and 3 months after incorporation. If they cannot do this, they cannot start their business lawfully.

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Source: Historical Data – Doing Business- World Bank Group.

I am mystified as to what this regulation is designed to do other than make it difficult to start a new business. It is a private commercial matter as to whether trade credit is extended to new businesses. That indeed is one of the challenges facing every entrepreneur: discovering who are reliable business partners or not.

One of the functions of banks is to issue letters of credit. These vouch for the financial strength of a customer when seeking new business or export markets.

Ease of doing business in Europe, World Bank Doing Business 2016 rankings

For a rich country, Luxembourg is a pretty crappy place to do business – worse than Greece. Mostly due to terrible rankings for the Luxembourg legal system. Italy is not much better.

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Source: Ranking of economies – Doing Business – World Bank Group.

@paul1kirby why does @OECD claim that Indians trust their judicial system so much?

For a country riddled with corruption, Indians report the surprising amount of confidence in their courts despite the corruption in those courts as well.

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Source: Index of Economic Freedom.

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Source: Doing Business in India – World Bank Group.

Much more than a high minimum wage – Puerto Rican, Mexican and U.S. Doing Business rankings 2015

Having a high minimum wage is the least of the problems that the US territory of Porto Rico has when you consider reasons from its recent sovereign default. It owes about US$70 billion. It is a terrible place to do do business – worse than Mexico! Mexicans find it easier to export to the USA!

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Source: Doing Business Project – World Bank Group.

@OwenJones84 @K_Niemietz Ease of Doing Business in Latin America and the Caribbean – World Bank rankings

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Source: World Bank Doing Business Database 2015.

Philippine rankings for governance and business environment

Where not to invest in Europe

Registering property in the USA, UK, Germany and France – World Bank Doing Business rankings compared

Figure 1: registering property rankings, USA, UK, Germany and France – World Bank Doing Business rankings, 2014

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Source: Doing Business – Measuring Business Regulations – World Bank Group.

Doing Business in the USA and Canada – World Bank rankings compared

Figure 1: Doing Business in the USA, Canada, World Bank rankings, 2014

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Source: Doing Business – Measuring Business Regulations – World Bank Group.

It’s easier to do business in the USA and Canada because of the difficulties with construction permits and getting electricity and few more problems with enforcing contracts and registering property. It is easy to open a business in Canada.

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