One of the main reasons that poor countries are poor and remain poor is because of excessive regulation of business (see graph above - high income countries have significantly less regulation than poor countries).

From the study " Doing Business in 2004: Understanding Regulation " by the World Bank's International Finance Corporation:



Number of days to start a new business:

Australia: 2 days

Venezuela: 141 days

Haiti: 203 days

Suriname: 694 days



Time to enforce a simple commercial contract:

Netherlands: 39 days

New Zealand: 109 days

Singapore: 120 days

India: 1420 days

Guatemala: 1459 days



Cost of enforcement for a simple commercial contract:

Austria, Canada and UK: Less than 1% of the disputed amount

Sweden: 5.9% of the disputed amount

U.S.: 7.7% of the disputed amount

Indonesia: 126.5% of the disputed amount

Congo: 157% of the disputed amount



Time to close a business and go through bankruptcy:

Ireland: 4 months

Japan: 5 months

Brazil: 4 years

India: 10 years



