Ranking 42 Countries by Ease of Doing Digital Business

The World Bank’s annual Doing Business survey has been described by some as the “World Cup” or “Olympics” for governments competing to make their countries attractive to businesses. The highly influential ranking measures how easy it is to do business in a country by examining regulatory environments and has inspired hundreds of reforms. While this attention to policy responsiveness is admirable, a key element is missing from rankings such as Doing Business: they say little about the ease or difficulty of doing digital business. The authors aim to close this gap with the first analysis of the Ease of Doing Digital Business in 42 countries around the world. They find that digital business environments require distinctive policy focuses and investments.