East Europe attracting U.S. companies
Azerbaijan, Albania and Belarus are among countries rated high for regulatory reforms that are favorable to American corporations looking to get away from U.S. rules. John Dimsdale reports.
Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, seen at night. Azerbaijan is one of several countries east of Europe that have become attractive to American countries. (iStockphoto)
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TEXT OF STORY
Bob Moon: Advocates of relaxing business regulation keep telling us if corporations don't get some relief, they'll start taking their business somewhere else -- as in, to some other country. So where are they most likely to go? A new survey suggests some of the more attractive reforms are coming out of such places as Azerbaijan, Albania and Belarus. The World Bank says they're among the leading countries making improvements to their business regulations. Marketplace's John Dimsdale has more.
John Dimsdale: Eastern Europe has gradually overtaken fast-growing East Asia as the region with the most regulatory reforms. The World Bank report, called Doing Business 2009, looks at the 10 categories, such as how easy it is to start a business, get a license, hire workers or file for bankruptcy. Some African countries are showing improvements, like Senegal and Burkina Faso. But the stars are the countries just east of the European Union. Sabine Hertveldt, the report's co-author, says these countries have a special incentive to reform.
Sabine Hertveldt: One of the factors that are driving this is of course the integration into the European Union, which makes certain reforms necessary to join the EU. But also to compete with the already established EU member countries.
Georgia made the up and coming list too, but that was before the Russian invasion. On the overall ease of doing business list ranking 181 economies, Singapore, New Zealand and the United States are the top three for the third year in a row.
In Washington, I'm John Dimsdale for Marketplace.
Comments
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From Bellingham, WA, 09/10/2008
"Looking to get away from American rules". In your report you only mentioned such relatively non-controversial rules, such as, filing for bankruptcy, starting a business, finding workers, etc...
I feel that you are shirking your responsibility when you don't mention that for many companies key considerations are the relative weakness of environmental regulations, workers rights laws, unions, minimum wage laws, expectations for employer provided benifits, various disclosure laws and etcetera...
I find your program to be the exception when it comes to reporting on economic issues. Please don't deliver a sanitized reading of what motivates businesses to choose one local over another.
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