Measuring business development in developing countries: how and why the World Bank should revise its approach

Interviewer: Today I'm interviewing Dr. Mauricio Cárdenas. Dr. Cárdenas was Finance Minister of Colombia from September, 2012 to August, 2018, and is currently a visiting senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, SIPA, in the United States. He leads research on energy and climate policy in Latin America. Dr. Cárdenas is the author of an article, After "Doing Business", published in the Project Syndicate issue of 8th of October, 2021. The article contains links to Doing Business: External Panel Review, the report of a panel of six leading academics which Dr. Cárdenas chaired. The report was undertaken for the World Bank and made far-reaching recommendations. Two weeks after the report was completed, the World Bank announced that it was scrapping its annual Doing Business Report. The subject of this interview is how or why the World Bank should revise its approach to measuring the business environment in developing countries. Listeners are expected to have already read the article and linked material. Dr. Cárdenas, thank you for sparing the time for this interview. May I start by looking at the demand side of the report, by asking you the following. Who wants or should want a report like this? Why do they or should they want it? How do they or should they use it? Dr. Cárdenas: Thanks for your interest in this report. I think it was a bit overshadowed