WEF: Australia a bureaucratic nightmare!

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I’m paraphrasing of course but the World Economic Forum’s annual survey of global competitiveness makes it plain that Australia is performing badly on the red tape front:

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This edition marks the first time that Australia (21st, down one) exits the top 20 and is overtaken by New Zealand (18th), which jumps five places. Australia delivers a consistent—and essentially unchanged— performance across the board, the highlight of which is its 7th rank in the financial market development pillar, the only pillar where it features in the top 10.

The country also earns very good marks for higher education and training, placing 15th. Australia’s favorable macroeconomic situation is improving further (25th, up one place). Its budget deficit was reduced in 2012 and inflation brought to under 2 percent, while the public debt-to-GDP ratio, though on the rise, is the third lowest among advanced economies, behind only Estonia and Luxembourg. The main area of concern for Australia is the rigidity of its labor market (54th, down 12), where the situation has deteriorated further. Australia ranks 137th for the rigidity of the hiring and firing practices and 135th for the rigidity of wage setting. The quality of Australia’s public institutions is excellent except when it comes to the burden of government regulation, where the country ranks a poor 128th. Indeed, the business community cites labor regulations and bureaucratic red tape as being, respectively, the first and second most problematic factor for doing business in their country.

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I agree that Australia has over-regulated labour but are we really more of a bureaucratic nightmare than India? One wonders how subject to the relativities of local perception that this survey is. See below the full “Burden of Government Regulation” list:

RANK COUNTRY/ECONOMY VALUE 1 MEAN 3.5 7
1 Singapore ………………………………..5.4
2 Qatar ………………………………………5.2
3 Rwanda …………………………………..5.0
4 Finland …………………………………….5.0
5 Hong Kong SAR ……………………….4.9
6 United Arab Emirates …………………4.9
7 Oman ……………………………………..4.7
8 Malaysia …………………………………..4.6
9 Bahrain ……………………………………4.4
10 Georgia ……………………………………4.4
11 Estonia …………………………………….4.3
12 Zambia ……………………………………4.3
13 New Zealand ……………………………4.3
14 China ………………………………………4.3
15 Taiwan, China …………………………..4.3
16 Brunei Darussalam …………………….4.3
17 Switzerland ………………………………4.2
18 Luxembourg …………………………….4.2
19 Barbados …………………………………4.2
20 Gambia, The …………………………….4.2
21 Azerbaijan ………………………………..4.2
22 Sweden …………………………………..4.1
23 Liberia ……………………………………..4.1
24 Cyprus …………………………………….4.1
25 Seychelles ………………………………..4.1
26 Chile ……………………………………….4.1
27 Panama …………………………………..4.1
28 Netherlands ……………………………..4.0
29 Ireland ……………………………………..3.9
30 Iceland …………………………………….3.9
31 Indonesia …………………………………3.9
32 Sierra Leone …………………………….3.9
33 Albania …………………………………….3.9
34 Armenia …………………………………..3.9
35 Mauritius ………………………………….3.8
36 Jordan …………………………………….3.8
37 Saudi Arabia …………………………….3.8
38 Macedonia, FYR ……………………….3.8
39 Botswana ………………………………..3.8
40 Paraguay …………………………………3.8
41 Uganda ……………………………………3.8
42 Lesotho …………………………………..3.8
43 Guyana ……………………………………3.8
44 Côte d’Ivoire …………………………….3.8
45 United Kingdom ………………………..3.7
46 Cape Verde ……………………………..3.7
47 Burkina Faso …………………………….3.7
48 Gabon …………………………………….3.7
49 Malawi …………………………………….3.7
50 Guinea …………………………………….3.7
51 Senegal …………………………………..3.7
52 Canada ……………………………………3.7
53 Tanzania ………………………………….3.7
54 Kazakhstan ………………………………3.7
55 Lao PDR ………………………………….3.7
56 Germany ………………………………….3.6
57 Bolivia ……………………………………..3.6
58 Nicaragua ………………………………..3.6
59 Montenegro ……………………………..3.6
60 Kenya ……………………………………..3.6
61 Bosnia and Herzegovina …………….3.6
62 Norway ……………………………………3.6
63 Nigeria …………………………………….3.5
64 Morocco ………………………………….3.5
65 Bhutan …………………………………….3.5
66 Guatemala ……………………………….3.5
67 Namibia …………………………………..3.5
68 Ecuador …………………………………..3.5
69 Dominican Republic …………………..3.5
70 Cambodia ………………………………..3.5
71 Tunisia …………………………………….3.5
72 Turkey ……………………………………..3.5
73 Ghana ……………………………………..3.5
74 Sri Lanka …………………………………3.4
RANK COUNTRY/ECONOMY VALUE 1 MEAN 3.5 7
75 Timor-Leste ……………………………..3.4
76 Mozambique …………………………….3.4
77 Cameroon ………………………………..3.4
78 El Salvador……………………………….3.4
79 Latvia ………………………………………3.4
80 United States ……………………………3.4
81 Japan ……………………………………..3.4
82 Pakistan …………………………………..3.4
83 Ethiopia ……………………………………3.4
84 Haiti ………………………………………..3.4
85 Swaziland ………………………………..3.4
86 Malta ………………………………………3.4
87 Trinidad and Tobago ………………….3.4
88 Austria …………………………………….3.4
89 Mali …………………………………………3.4
90 Thailand …………………………………..3.3
91 Mauritania ………………………………..3.3
92 Uruguay …………………………………..3.3
93 Madagascar ……………………………..3.3
94 Costa Rica ……………………………….3.3
95 Korea, Rep. ……………………………..3.2
96 Egypt ………………………………………3.2
97 Bangladesh ………………………………3.2
98 Philippines ……………………………….3.2
99 Suriname …………………………………3.2
100 Kyrgyz Republic ………………………..3.2
101 Denmark ………………………………….3.2
102 Zimbabwe ………………………………..3.1
103 Nepal ………………………………………3.1
104 India ………………………………………..3.1
105 Bulgaria …………………………………..3.1
106 Vietnam …………………………………..3.1
107 Lithuania ………………………………….3.0
108 Chad ……………………………………….3.0
109 Israel ……………………………………….3.0
110 Honduras …………………………………3.0
111 Mexico …………………………………….3.0
112 Yemen …………………………………….3.0
113 Peru ………………………………………..2.9
114 Colombia …………………………………2.9
115 Lebanon ………………………………….2.9
116 South Africa ……………………………..2.9
117 Burundi ……………………………………2.9
118 Puerto Rico ………………………………2.9
119 Mongolia ………………………………….2.9
120 Russian Federation ……………………2.9
121 Libya ……………………………………….2.9
122 Moldova …………………………………..2.8
123 Iran, Islamic Rep. ………………………2.8
124 Benin ………………………………………2.8
125 Spain ………………………………………2.8
126 Jamaica …………………………………..2.8
127 Romania ………………………………….2.8
128 Australia …………………………………..2.8
129 Angola …………………………………….2.8
130 France …………………………………….2.7
131 Myanmar………………………………….2.7
132 Portugal …………………………………..2.7
133 Poland …………………………………….2.7
134 Belgium …………………………………..2.6
135 Czech Republic ………………………..2.6
136 Slovenia …………………………………..2.6
137 Ukraine ……………………………………2.6
138 Algeria …………………………………….2.5
139 Slovak Republic ………………………..2.5
140 Hungary …………………………………..2.4
141 Argentina …………………………………2.3
142 Serbia ……………………………………..2.3
143 Croatia …………………………………….2.3
144 Greece …………………………………….2.2
145 Kuwait …………………………………….2.2
146 Italy …………………………………………2.2
147 Brazil ……………………………………….2.0
148 Venezuela ………………………………..1.8

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About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.