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The World Bank Doing Business Index for Canada: An Assessment

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  • Andrew Sharpe

Abstract

Since 2007, Canada's ranking on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index (DBI) has fallen from 4th to 23rd in 2020. The DBI is one of two flagship publications of World Bank. It attempts to measure the business environment in ten areas or pillars for 190 countries. Since 2007, Canada’s ranking has fallen in nine of the ten pillars. However, the overall fall in ranking can be largely explained by Canada's deteriorating performance on four of the pillars of the DBI: trading across borders, dealing with construction permits, enforcing contracts and getting electricity. Following a deep dive into Canada’s performance on the pillars of the DBI, a comparison with other international competitiveness and economic environment indexes is made. This section shows that Canada’s performance on the DBI is an outlier, with Canada’s performance on the Global Competitiveness Index, the World Competitiveness Index, the Economic Freedom Index, and the Human Freedom Index all exceeding Canada’s performance on the DBI in 2020. This report also discusses criticisms of the DBI, which is particularly relevant given the temporary suspension of the DBI, announced August, 2020, in response to data irregularities found in the 2018 and 2020 Doing Business Reports.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Sharpe, 2021. "The World Bank Doing Business Index for Canada: An Assessment," CSLS Research Reports 2021-02, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    • Handle: RePEc:sls:resrep:1917
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    File URL: http://www.csls.ca/reports/csls2021-02.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    World Bank; Canada; Doing Business; Ease of Doing Business; Global Affairs Canada; Toronto; ranking; international;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers
    • K37 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Immigration Law

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