Private sector development is essential for long-run economic growth and job creation.  Government policies can help – or hinder – this process.  Beyond macroeconomic policies and the provision of infrastructure, the regulatory environment is key to shaping incentives facing the private sector.  The regulatory environment affects the costs and risks associated with running a business and the extent of competition firms face.  Efforts to lower the costs of regulatory compliance, to improve the efficiency of regulations, and to strengthen property, creditor and investor rights have received increased attention in recent years.

Doing Business has made detailed, comparable information on the regulatory environment available for 183 countries, covering 10 areas of business regulation.  It has brought considerable attention to the agenda of improving the regulatory environment for business to support private sector led growth and job creation and inspired hundreds of regulatory reforms efforts since its initial publication in 2003. These offer the potential for large improvements in the ease of doing business. The year 2012 marks the tenth anniversary of Doing Business and seems an appropriate time to assess further the extent to which Doing Business has served to catalyze broader business reform initiatives, and how the impact of reforms, as measured by Doing Business, compare to other efforts to spur private sector development.  The intent is to take stock of what has been achieved, as well as to draw lessons which can guide the project and regulatory reform efforts in the years to come.

The aim of the conference is to bring together the latest research findings regarding the impact of the regulatory environment and reforms on economic outcomes related to private sector growth.  The purpose is to better understand what works, what does not, and why.  As the topic being examined is of prime interest, papers that use measures of regulatory environment other than Doing Business will also be considered. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

1. The impact of business regulation reforms:  Rigorous studies that examine the impact of specific regulatory reforms or programs of reform on a variety of outcomes, such as firm formality, employment, investment, productivity, and growth.

2. The interaction effects between different types business regulation reforms: Micro or macro level analyses that investigate the impact of combining or sequencing different regulatory reforms on economic outcomes.

3. The political economy of business regulation reforms: Which factors determine whether business regulation reforms are implemented and how far-reaching reforms are? Does a focus on Doing Business reforms crowd out or crowd in other private sector reforms?  Why do certain burdensome regulations and procedures remain in many economies?  Which factors determine whether a country implements partial or comprehensive business regulation reforms?

4. Business regulation and governance: To what extent does simplifying regulations lower corruption?  How does governance affect the impact of regulatory reforms?

5. Strengths and weaknesses of current Doing Business indicators: How well do the current indicators capture regulations’ true burdens on firms? To what extent are the indicators able to track broader regulatory reforms or are they easily manipulated?  Do reforms registered by Doing Business also get reflected in business barometers, GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) measures of attitudes to entrepreneurship, or other measures of the perceptions of entrepreneurs on the ground (i.e. do reforms affect the perceptions of entrepreneurs for the better)?

Doing Business was also influential in focusing the attention of the World Bank Group on actionable indicators. The sets of indicators that we developed based on the Doing Business methodology include: Subnational Doing Business, Investing Across Borders (http://iab.worldbank.org/) and Women, Business and the Law (http://wbl.worldbank.org/). Subnational Doing Business expands the Doing Business indicators to cities other than the major business city. Investing Across Borders compares regulation of foreign direct investment around the world, by presenting quantitative indicators on economies' laws, regulations, and practices affecting how foreign companies invest across sectors, start businesses, access industrial land, and arbitrate commercial disputes. Women, Business and the Law presents indicators based on laws and regulations affecting women's prospects as entrepreneurs and employees.

Call for Papers

Papers and extended abstracts can be submitted to Rita Ramalho ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) by April 31^st, 2012. Authors will be informed about the selection committee’s decision by May 31st, 2012. Completed papers need to be submitted by September 15^th, 2012.

Selected conference papers will be published the World Bank Economic Review (http://wber.oxfordjournals.org/). The selection of papers will be done by World Bank Group staff, the editors of the World Bank Economic Review and fsaculty of Georgetown University. All the papers and conference materials will also be made available on the Doing Business website (www.doingbusiness.org) which received 2.5 million visits last year.

For further information, please contact Rita Ramalho ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Call for Proposals

Proposals can be submitted to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it by Nov 30, 2011. Awards will announced by Dec 16, 2011. A draft paper would need to be submitted by August 31, 2012. Completed papers would need to be submitted by Nov 15, 2012.

A selection committee made up of academics and World Bank Group staff will select among the proposals. Awards will vary between $5,000 and $15,000. Proposals may be for related work already in progress, but should demonstrate how the funding will allow for additional work to be carried out. An author of the selected papers will be invited to present at the conference, planned for December 2012. A call for papers was also issued in parallel. Completed work or work in progress may be submitted for selection on the call for papers.

Selected papers will be invited, but not required, to be considered for publication in the World Bank Economic Review (http://wber.oxfordjournals.org/). The selection of papers will be done by World Bank Group staff, the editors of the World Bank Economic Review and the faculty of Georgetown University. All papers and conference materials will also be made available on the Doing Business website (www.doingbusiness.org), which received 2.5 million visits last year.

For further information, please contact Rita Ramalho ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

This call for proposals as been made possible by a grant from Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.