You’d think that as a country with an MBA president, this one would be a no-brainer for the old US of A. Didn’t our motto used to be something like “The business of America is business”…or something like that?
Well, the World Bank (curse them!) has determined that New Zealand, NOT the US is actually the most business friendly nation in the world. Singapore came next, then the US and then Canada.
The report ranked 155 countries according to factors like the amount of red tape, ease of hiring and firing workers, how hard it is to enforce contracts in court…and then came to conclusion that the Kiwis do it better. Europe, as many folks know, is legendary for its red tape, as is most of South America. But there were some surprises. Lithuania for example turned in at 14th, which is pretty solid for a former Soviet satellite.
I guess I find it funny, though, that a bloated red-tape strangled organization like the World Bank would be judging others on efficiency. But hey, that’s just an opinion.