Doing Business North America

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What is Doing Business North America?

The Doing Business North America (DBNA) project annually provides objective measures of the scale and scope of business regulations in 134 cities across 92 states, provinces, and federal districts of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. It uses these measures to score and rank cities in regard to how easy or difficult it is to set up, operate, and shut down a business.

134

cities

92

states, provinces and federal districts across the U.S., Canada and Mexico

111

variables spread over 6 categories

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Why is this report important now?

Over the years, researchers have begun to understand how robust measurement and ranking of regulations that either enhance business activity or constrain it can provide substantial insight into economic outcomes. Objective measurements of those regulations have been vital in this understanding. Unlike many studies that measure regulations at the state level, this annual study measures the impact at the city level and does so for over 100 municipal jurisdictions across North America.


Provide measurable benchmarks

This report will provide objective measurements of regulatory conditions and make them publicly-available to researchers and policymakers.


Encourage competition

This report will allow researchers and policymakers to track the improvement or decline in local regulatory conditions and provide a context for thinking about policy reform.


Increase economic well-being

The measures can help contribute to the understanding of which regulatory environments can produce the best economic outcomes for the largest number of people.

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How is the data categorized?

This report collects data on 111 variables within the following six categories:

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Explore the data sets

The Doing Business North America team collected data on 111 different regulatory and economic variables across six different categories. The data collected came entirely from official and publicly-available sources.

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View 2021 Report

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