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Business regulations and growth

Author

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  • Divanbeigi,Raian
  • Ramalho,Rita

Abstract

Over the past decade, there has been increased interest in improving business regulations, in part because of the increased availability of data that can inform and monitor those improvements. This paper analyzes whether these regulatory changes are linked to economic outcomes. With panel data for 10 years across more than 180 countries, the paper establishes the link between business regulations, firm creation, and growth. It is found that an improvement of 10 points in the overall measure of business regulations is linked to an increase of around 0.5 new businesses per 1,000 adults. Moreover, the results show that although small changes in the overall level of business regulations may have a negligible link to growth, moving from the lowest quartile of improvement in business regulations to the highest quartile is associated with a significant increase in annual per capita growth of around 0.8 percentage points. In addition, the results highlight the importance of sound entry and exit regulations and sound credit market regulations and court enforcement for growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Divanbeigi,Raian & Ramalho,Rita, 2015. "Business regulations and growth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7299, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7299
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Becht, Marco & Mayer, Colin & Wagner, Hannes F., 2008. "Where do firms incorporate? Deregulation and the cost of entry," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 241-256, June.
    3. Chang, Roberto & Kaltani, Linda & Loayza, Norman V., 2009. "Openness can be good for growth: The role of policy complementarities," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 33-49, September.
    4. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2002. "Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the Making of the Modern World Income Distribution," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(4), pages 1231-1294.
    5. Miriam Bruhn, 2011. "License to Sell: The Effect of Business Registration Reform on Entrepreneurial Activity in Mexico," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(1), pages 382-386, February.
    6. Levon Barseghyan, 2008. "Entry costs and cross-country differences in productivity and output," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 145-167, June.
    7. Lee Branstetter & Francisco Lima & Lowell J. Taylor & Ana Venâncio, 2014. "Do Entry Regulations Deter Entrepreneurship and Job Creation? Evidence from Recent Reforms in Portugal," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(577), pages 805-832, June.
    8. Era Dabla-Norris & Gabriela Inchauste, 2008. "Informality and Regulations: What Drives the Growth of Firms?," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 55(1), pages 50-82, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Qingjie Zhou & Dongyao Yu & Feng Xu & Jiamin Sun, 2022. "The Impact of Institutional Friction Cost on Economic Growth: Evidence from OECD Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Yusef Ali Yusef Yakubi & Basuki Basuki & Rudi Purwono & Indrianawati Usman, 2022. "The Impact of Digital Technology and Business Regulations on Financial Inclusion and Socio-Economic Development in Low-Income Countries," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(3), pages 21582440221, August.

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    Keywords

    E-Business; Economic Theory&Research; Business Environment; Competitiveness and Competition Policy; Business in Development;
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