An easy way to take the pulse of 2009 is to look at what people have been reading over the past year. Alan has already talked about books, so I'll take a look at newspapers.
Yesterday, the FT posted its most read opinion pieces of 2009. Which author is on top?
Nouriel Roubini. Twice.
In honor of the World Bank's limited edition blog of 2008-2009, Crisis Talk, here is a poem from Martin Dickson, deputy editor of the Financial Times, on the worst excesses of the financial crisis:
"To moral hazard give no thought!
We see no need to get distraught.
Please rest assured God’s work we’re doing
(It’s merely taxpayers we’re screwing.)
The Lord to us has sent a sign:
Monopoly profits are just fine."
As we say goodbye to the “Naughties” I thought it may be interesting to step back and reflect on some of the significant books of the last decade that really did change the way we thought about PSD and its contribution to development. Given the “decade” theme, I’ve limited the selection to ten, although the books don’t map to each year of the decade.
Continuing our countdown to the new decade, PSD blog is switching gears from
The World Bank’s Investment Climate Department (CIC) has reviewed the recent literature on the relationship between restrictive regulation, corruption and business environment reforms, finding that corruption is positively correlated with restrictive regulation.
In the report, "Iraq's Shaky Economy Poses Threat to Future," NPR cites The World Bank's Doing Business report that ranks economies based on the ease of doing business in particular countries:
The process of setting up a business in Iraq requires 11 procedures,
Yesterday I discussed the launch of the latest Doing Business sub-report, which focuses on the ease of paying taxes. This is a laudable effort- paying taxes is painful enough to begin with, why make it more difficult than necessary?
The latest publication of the Doing Business franchise is out: Paying Taxes 2010-The global picture.
The study measures tax systems from the point of view of a domestic company complying with the different tax laws and regulations in each economy. The case study company is a small to medium-size manufacturer and retailer, deliberately chosen to ensure that its business can be identified with and compared worldwide.
