2012年-世界发展银行全球_Doing_Business_Economy_Profile_2013___United_States_116页_1mb

Economy Profile: United States - Doing Business 2013 Summary

Core Content Overview

The Doing Business 2013 report provides an analysis of the regulatory environment for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United States and compares it with other economies. It evaluates the ease of doing business across 11 key areas, including starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency, and employing workers.

Key Indicators and Rankings

The report presents a ranking system that evaluates the ease of doing business on a scale from 1 to 185, with 1 being the easiest. The United States is ranked 4th in the overall ease of doing business index in 2013, maintaining the same rank as in 2012. This ranking is based on the simple average of percentile rankings across the 10 topics included in the index.

The report also includes comparator economies and regional averages for each indicator to provide a clearer picture of the U.S. business environment.

Main Topics and Indicators

Starting a Business

• Rank (2013): 13
• Procedures: 6
• Time: 6 days
• Cost: 1.4% of income per capita
• Paid-in Minimum Capital: 0.0% of income per capita

The U.S. is among the top performers in this area, with no minimum paid-in capital requirement. It ranks better than most comparator economies, including Canada, China, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

Dealing with Construction Permits

• Rank (2013): 17
• Procedures: 15
• Time: 27 days
• Cost: 14.4% of income per capita

The U.S. performs relatively well compared to other economies, but it still lags behind the best performers like Hong Kong SAR, China.

Getting Electricity

• Rank (2013): 19
• Procedures: 4
• Time: 68 days
• Cost: 16.1% of income per capita

The U.S. is ranked above the global average, but it is far behind countries like Germany and Japan, which have more efficient systems.

Registering Property

• Rank (2013): 25
• Procedures: 4
• Time: 12 days
• Cost: 3.5% of property value

The U.S. has a relatively efficient process for registering property, but there is room for improvement, particularly compared to countries like Georgia and Portugal.

Getting Credit

• Rank (2013): 4
• Strength of Legal Rights Index: 9 (out of 10)
• Depth of Credit Information Index: 6 (out of 6)
• Public Registry Coverage: 0.0% of adults
• Private Bureau Coverage: 100.0% of adults

The U.S. has strong legal rights and credit information systems, with high private bureau coverage.

Protecting Investors

• Rank (2013): 6
• Extent of Disclosure Index: 7 (out of 10)
• Extent of Director Liability Index: 9 (out of 10)
• Ease of Shareholder Suits Index: 9 (out of 10)
• Strength of Investor Protection Index: 8.3 (out of 10)

The U.S. is ranked above most comparator economies and has a strong investor protection system.

Paying Taxes

• Rank (2013): 69
• Payments (number per year): 11
• Time (hours per year): 175
• Cost (% of estate): 7%

The U.S. has a relatively complex and costly tax system, ranking lower than many other economies, including the United Arab Emirates and Singapore.

Trading Across Borders

• Rank (2013): 22
• Documents to Export: 4
• Time to Export: 6 days
• Cost to Export (US$ per container): $1,090
• Documents to Import: 5
• Time to Import: 5 days
• Cost to Import (US$ per container): $1,315

The U.S. has a moderate ranking in trade efficiency, with a relatively low number of export and import documents but a high cost compared to countries like Malaysia and Singapore.

Enforcing Contracts

• Rank (2013): 6
• Time (days): 370
• Cost (% of claim): 14.4%

The U.S. has a good ranking for contract enforcement, but the time and cost remain relatively high compared to top performers like Luxembourg and Singapore.

Resolving Insolvency

• Rank (2013): 16
• Time (years): 1.5
• Cost (% of estate): 7%
• Outcome: 1 (going concern)

The U.S. has a relatively efficient insolvency resolution system, with a good outcome rate and moderate cost.

Key Insights

• The Doing Business methodology measures the ease of doing business based on specific procedures and assumes no bribes, no prior contact with officials, and no special benefits.
• The distance to frontier measure helps assess how far an economy is from the best practices, showing that the U.S. has made progress in some areas but remains behind in others.
• The U.S. has no paid-in minimum capital requirement, which is a significant advantage for SMEs.
• No major reforms were recorded in the U.S. for the period 2008–2013.
• The report emphasizes that the business environment is not fully captured by the indicators, as it does not include factors like infrastructure quality or macroeconomic conditions.

Conclusion

The U.S. maintains a strong regulatory environment for SMEs, particularly in areas like getting credit and enforcing contracts. However, there are still areas for improvement, especially in paying taxes and resolving insolvency. The report serves as a useful tool for policymakers to identify areas where regulatory reforms could enhance the business environment and support economic growth.