Place Based Economic Development with Simon White

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Business Environment Reform

Simon White | Specialist in policies and programs for more enabling business environments.

Australian government scraps Repeal Day: Is business reform a political stunt?

Australian government scraps Repeal Day: Is business reform a political stunt?

The Australian Government’s decision to its scrap Repeal Day (I’ve written about this before: here, here and here) initiative after two years raises some interesting questions: * Does red-tape reduction and improvement in regulatory quality require a specific day or event? * How can government manage a continuous regulatory

Research in Progress: Beyond National Business Environment Reform

Many public policy reforms focus on national level systems. However, increasingly attention is given to the other systems. This is especially true when the policy, legal and regulatory concerns of the private sector are considered. Many firms experience problems at the local level as they bump up against the licenses,

The Impact of Business Environment Reform: Two Rapid Evidence Assessments

The UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) have just published to reports I co-authored this year with Peter Fortune. These present the evidence of the impact of business environment reform in two areas. Business environment reform and investment: rapid evidence assessment Over the past few years, business

Fertiliser: a commodity without borders?

Fertiliser: a commodity without borders?

In June 2006, the African Union (AU) declared fertiliser a “commodity without borders”. This was in response to the recognition that national borders – or more specifically non-tarrif barriers that businesspeople are faced with at the borders – were inhibiting private investment into fertiliser markets, which has a damaging effect on

European Support for the Private Sector in Achieving Inclusive and Sustainable Growth in Developing Countries

The month, the European Commission submitted a report to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of Regions on its support to the private sector in developing countries, The report, entitled A Stronger Role of the Private Sector in Achieving Inclusive and Sustainable

Arguments on Africa de-industrialisation

It’s been interesting to observe the range of arguments surrounding the topic of “Africa’s de-industralisation”. These range from whether or not Africa is indeed de-industralising, to how best to re-industrialise. Within these discussions there are interesting debates on the role of small and medium enterprises

Creating public-private partnerships in Agriculture

Today, I met with the senior management team of the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) in Johannesburg, South Africa. This non-for-profit organisation facilitates linkages between private and public actors to build markets in the agriculture sector –– specifically in fertilisers. It does this so that African smallholder farmers