By Mike Bird Oct. 25, 2019 11:34 am ET China now tops France in the World Bank’s latest “Doing Business” rankings and is closing in on Japan. But there is less than meets the eye to the stratospheric rise in its rank, from 78th to 31st in just three years, making it supposedly one of the easiest emerging markets in which to do business.
Firstly, the World Bank metric is based on domestic firms, not foreign ones. International businesses have a series of additional hoops to jump through in China. Secondly, the survey only covers Beijing and Shanghai, which make up less than a 20th of China’s population. Since much regulatory and tax enforcement is done at the local level, these cities are at best an imperfect guide.
Third, the World Bank publication appears to have fallen victim to Goodhart’s Law: when a measure becomes a target, it can stop being a useful measure. Measures such as the cost of accessing electricity were chosen for the report, presumably, as general indicators of the regulatory burden. But once they are known to the countries, they can be gamed at relatively low cost, with the aim of improving rankings.
Parisian policy makers can wipe the nervous sweat from their brows: it is still probably harder to do business in China than France.Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Rumours spread fast, thanks to media! Kindly do not believe them without verification. Nearly 90% of what we hear each day consists of lies, says modern psychological surveys.
When someday you are forced to betray Freedom and Justice, you will know it is so so so good to invest in China.
US companies should decouple themselves from China. Economic expansion of Communist China has already posed a threat to liberty of the free world (take a look to NBA, Blizzard, Apple...), and it brings more suppression and sufferings to human being. Chinazi
It's not misleading if you include the ease of bribery. Most Communist officials can be bribed to provide ease. So, the study is right.
Yes, if you are corrupt.
anyway，US is of course not a easier place cos u disgusting journalists
Will this mean French fries, toast and bread will now be made in China? Asking for a friend, a one-term congresswoman from Queens, NY...RepAOC
Never mind! Come back to see it after 10 years.
Yes it’s easy, first you need to kowtow and everything will be easy