Dampak Penerapan Rencana Aksi APEC pada Lima Indikator Ease of Doing Business terhadap Pendirian Usaha di Kawasan APEC

Abstract

Inefficient business regulation may hinder the growth of business activities. In 2009, APEC established the APEC Ease of Doing Business Action Plan (the APEC Action Plan) to promote business regulatory reforms in its member region. There are five indicators of ease of doing business identified as reform priorities in the APEC Action Plan, namely starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting credit, trading across borders, and enforcing contracts. This study tested the impact of regulatory reforms on these five indicators on firm creation in the APEC region in the presence of the APEC Action Plan as an intervention. Using a combination of Fixed Effects Model, Random-Effects Model, and Random Effects-instrumental variables on the panel data of 15 APEC member economies over the 2006-2018 period, results show a better score improvement in the five indicators of ease of doing business after implementing the APEC Action Plan. Regulatory reforms on the starting a business indicator have the most significant impact on firm creation in the APEC region. Specifically, the increasing number of firm creations is strongly driven by the decreasing number of days required to obtain a license to start a business. The other four indicators show an insignificant relationship to the firm creation. APEC members are suggested to design policies that focus on providing licensing services to start a business that is easy, cheap, and fast. For example, by implementing "one-stop-shops" services and developing electronic-based services to speed up the licensing process and minimize costs.