I admit I’m committing an ideological sin, but the World Bank has released its 2008 “Doing Business” report, which ranks 178 countries on regulatory impediments to entrepreurship, and it is a first-rate publication. I realize the World Bank should not exist, and I’m quite aware that many of their activities in other areas hinder economic growth, but this report is very helpful in promoting regulatory competition among jurisdictions. I’ll atone for my sin by coming up with a reason to criticize the international bureaucracy in the near future, but this EU Observer story shows how Doing Business creates pressure for regulatory liberalization:

Thanks to regulatory reforms, Eastern Europe and Central Asia have surpassed East Asia for ease of doing business, a World Bank report says. The report, called “Doing Business” compares and ranks 178 economies and seven regions on the basis of ten indicators related to business regulations. …Several of the region’s countries have also overtaken some Western European economies. Estonia and Georgia for instance, the region’s two top performers, have surpassed most EU members and both hold a spot in the top twenty.