DOING BUSINESS: USING RATINGS TO DRIVE REFORM

The World Bank Doing Business results are widely used to promote reform—but they are based entirely on rankings that imply an equal spread between consecutive ranks and effectively ignores shortcomings in the research methodology. Rankings can mislead countries that have made an effort to reform can fall in the rankings even when they have improved if others have done even better. A scorecard based on ratings would provide a better overall picture of which countries are doing well and less well and enable countries to set more realistic targets for reform because they could then entirely focus on improving their rating. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.