Rotating Quiz #188 - Taking Care of Business

[Calvin]

Welcome to RQ188.

It is based on the 2014 World Bank Group "ease of doing business" index. Countries are ranked from 1-218 on the basis how conducive their regulatory environment is for the starting and operation of a local firm. The rankings take 10 factors into account:

Starting a Business
Dealing with Construction Permits
Getting Electricity
Registering Property
Getting Credit
Protecting Minority Investors
Paying Taxes
Trading Across Borders
Enforcing Contracts
Resolving Insolvency

To assist you in your task, here are the rankings for the top-ranked country in the following regions:

East Asia & Pacific - Singapore #1
East Europe & Central Asia - Georgia #15
Latin America & Caribbean - Colombia #34
Middle East & North Africa - UAE # 22
South Asia - Sri Lanka #99
Sub Saharan Africa - Mauritius #28

A lower ranking is better as you probably gathered.

Your task is to nominate the ranking of these 10 countries:

Argentina
Eritrea
Greece
India
New Zealand
Nigeria
Thailand
United Kingdom
United States
Venezuela

Your score will be the sum of the differences between your nominated rankings and the actual rankings. So if you nominate India at #100 and it is actually #123, your score is 23. The lowest aggregate score wins. I hope that clear enough but ask if not.

The normal rules apply: use your wits only, answer by responding to this post (in rgt, not via email) within 7 days, and a modest donation to my papyal a/c won't do your chances of success any harm.

Have fun and good luck!

cheers,
calvin

[Calvin]

On Wednesday, July 8, 2015 at 11:33:59 AM UTC+10, Calvin wrote:

> To assist you in your task, here are the rankings for the top-ranked country in the following regions:
>
> East Asia & Pacific - Singapore #1
> East Europe & Central Asia - Georgia #15
> Latin America & Caribbean - Colombia #34
> Middle East & North Africa - UAE # 22
> South Asia - Sri Lanka #99
> Sub Saharan Africa - Mauritius #28

Just to be clear, these are world rankings from 1-219, not regional rankings.

cheers,
calvin

[Mark Brader]

"Calvin":

> Welcome to RQ188.
>
> It is based on the 2014 World Bank Group "ease of doing business" index.

Interesting idea. Perverse, but interesting. <grin>

> Argentina

#30.

> Eritrea

#200.

> Greece

#61.

> India

#31.

> New Zealand

#15.

> Nigeria

#120.

> Thailand

#60.

> United Kingdom

#10.

> United States

#11.

> Venezuela

#62.

--
Mark Brader "Men are animals."
Toronto "What are women? Plants, birds, fish?"
m...@vex.net -- Spider Robinson, "Night of Power"
"Definitely birds."
-- Rodney Boyd

My text in this article is in the public domain.

[swp]

On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 9:33:59 PM UTC-4, Calvin wrote:
> Welcome to RQ188.
>
> It is based on the 2014 World Bank Group "ease of doing business" index.
> Countries are ranked from 1-218 on the basis how conducive their regulatory
> environment is for the starting and operation of a local firm. The rankings
> take 10 factors into account:

oy vey!

>
> Starting a Business
> Dealing with Construction Permits
> Getting Electricity
> Registering Property
> Getting Credit
> Protecting Minority Investors
> Paying Taxes
> Trading Across Borders
> Enforcing Contracts
> Resolving Insolvency
>
> To assist you in your task, here are the rankings for the top-ranked country in the following regions:
>
> East Asia & Pacific - Singapore #1
> East Europe & Central Asia - Georgia #15
> Latin America & Caribbean - Colombia #34
> Middle East & North Africa - UAE # 22
> South Asia - Sri Lanka #99
> Sub Saharan Africa - Mauritius #28
>
> A lower ranking is better as you probably gathered.
>
> Your task is to nominate the ranking of these 10 countries:
>
> Argentina

109

> Eritrea

218

> Greece

66

> India

109

> New Zealand

2

> Nigeria

199

> Thailand

40

> United Kingdom

10

> United States

10

> Venezuela

199

>
> Your score will be the sum of the differences between your
> nominated rankings and the actual rankings.

you mean the absolute value of the difference, yes? to avoid this ambiguity in the future, you can just say you will square the differences and then sum them. that's how I score any pool where people are expected to pick a 'bracket' as well.

except for new zealand, which I'm surprised wasn't #1, the rest are wild guesses based on what relative part of the chart I think they belong in. I also guessed that you put the worst one in there, and made my other 2 wags for worst 199 so they should be relatively close. the hardest ones were the US and UK -- I don't know which is lower than the other, but I suspect both are fairly high on the list. and when in doubt, pick the middle.

swp

[swp]

On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 11:34:57 PM UTC-4, Mark Brader wrote:
> "Calvin":
> > Welcome to RQ188.
> >
> > It is based on the 2014 World Bank Group "ease of doing business" index.
>
> Interesting idea. Perverse, but interesting. <grin>

agreed!

>
> > United Kingdom
>
> #10.
>
> > United States
>
> #11.

this was my guess zone for both of these as well. it should worry you that you are thinking like me. I know it worries me.

swp

[Dan Blum]

Calvin <334...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Argentina

30

> Eritrea

90

> Greece

50

> India

110

> New Zealand

4

> Nigeria

120

> Thailand

42

> United Kingdom

5

> United States

3

> Venezuela

40

--
_______________________________________________________________________
Dan Blum to...@panix.com
"I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't just made it up."

[Mark Brader]

"Calvin":

> > Your score will be the sum of the differences between your
> > nominated rankings and the actual rankings.

Stephen Perry:

> you mean the absolute value of the difference, yes?

I'm sure he did.

> to avoid this ambiguity in the future, you can just say you will square the

> differences and then sum them...

Right, avoid a minor ambiguity by making a major change to the rules!
--
Mark Brader | "...it is happening a lot to me recently. almost
Toronto | as if my beliefs are no longer strong enough
m...@vex.net | to counter reality." --Stephen Perry

[Calvin]

On Wednesday, July 8, 2015 at 1:56:17 PM UTC+10, Mark Brader wrote:
> "Calvin":
> > > Your score will be the sum of the differences between your
> > > nominated rankings and the actual rankings.
>
> Stephen Perry:
> > you mean the absolute value of the difference, yes?
>
> I'm sure he did.

Yes I did, but can't difference can be used in that sense? As in, the difference between 12 and 7 is 5.

> > to avoid this ambiguity in the future, you can just say you will square the
> > differences and then sum them...
>
> Right, avoid a minor ambiguity by making a major change to the rules!

I'm certainly not doing that. One way-off guess could give you a score of 40,000+!

cheers,
calvin

[Erland Sommarskog]

Calvin (334...@gmail.com) writes:
> Welcome to RQ188.
>

The answer is Bachmann Turner Overdrive! Oh, that was not the question?
Oh well.

Argentina - #70
Eritrea - #200
Greece - #110
India - #109
New Zealand - #10
Nigeria - #120
Thailand - #58
United Kingdom - #12
United States - #14
Venezuela - #78



--
Erland Sommarskog, Stockholm, esq...@sommarskog.se

[Erland Sommarskog]

Mark Brader (m...@vex.net) writes:
>> Argentina
>
> #30.

And Dan Blum had the same guess. Which is apparently incorrect, because,

Calvin said:

Latin America & Caribbean - Colombia #34

[Dan Blum]

Erland Sommarskog <esq...@sommarskog.se> wrote:
> Mark Brader (m...@vex.net) writes:
> >> Argentina
> >
> > #30.
>
> And Dan Blum had the same guess. Which is apparently incorrect, because,
> Calvin said:

> Latin America & Caribbean - Colombia #34

Yeah, I wasn't paying close enough attention to that. The fact that Colombia
is best in the region makes me a bit suspicious of the ranking system.

[Peter Smyth]

Calvin wrote:

> Argentina 64
> Eritrea 186
> Greece 76
> India 111
> New Zealand 9
> Nigeria 96
> Thailand 54
> United Kingdom 11
> United States 12
> Venezuela 68

Peter Smyth

[Erland Sommarskog]

Dan Blum (to...@panix.com) writes:
> Yeah, I wasn't paying close enough attention to that. The fact that
> Colombia is best in the region makes me a bit suspicious of the ranking
> system.
>

With the risk of being more political than is suitable for this forum:
although Colombia has for many years been plagued by guerilla wars, they
are known to have an ecnonmy which is more liberal than most other countries
in the region. Had I been asked to name #1 in the region, I would have
settled for Chile, which ranks very good on Transperancy International's
rankings (as some people may recall from an earlier RQ).

I have not checked the list, but I would not expect Argentina to be very
high, as Argentina has many of the same problems that Greece has - and
Greece is definitely not a country you are dreaming of doing business in.
Venezuela is more difficult to judge, as it might have been relatively
before Chavéz and even more so the bus driver started to wreak havoc of that
country.

[Dan Blum]

Erland Sommarskog <esq...@sommarskog.se> wrote:
> Dan Blum (to...@panix.com) writes:
> > Yeah, I wasn't paying close enough attention to that. The fact that
> > Colombia is best in the region makes me a bit suspicious of the ranking
> > system.
> >

> With the risk of being more political than is suitable for this forum:
> although Colombia has for many years been plagued by guerilla wars, they
> are known to have an ecnonmy which is more liberal than most other countries
> in the region. Had I been asked to name #1 in the region, I would have
> settled for Chile, which ranks very good on Transperancy International's
> rankings (as some people may recall from an earlier RQ).

The economy in Colombia may be fine, but you'd think this sort of ranking
would downgrade a country based on things like kidnap risk.

[Erland Sommarskog]

Dan Blum (to...@panix.com) writes:
> The economy in Colombia may be fine, but you'd think this sort of ranking
> would downgrade a country based on things like kidnap risk.
>

Yeah, but as I understand it the kidnapping risk is more out in the
wilderness. It is not that they will suck you in if you walk the streets
in Bogotá.

Then again, that may have been a factor they have "forgotten".

[Dan Tilque]

Calvin wrote:
> Welcome to RQ188.
>
> It is based on the 2014 World Bank Group "ease of doing business" index. Countries are ranked from 1-218 on the basis how conducive their regulatory environment is for the starting and operation of a local firm. The rankings take 10 factors into account:
>
> Starting a Business
> Dealing with Construction Permits
> Getting Electricity
> Registering Property
> Getting Credit
> Protecting Minority Investors
> Paying Taxes
> Trading Across Borders
> Enforcing Contracts
> Resolving Insolvency
>
> To assist you in your task, here are the rankings for the top-ranked country in the following regions:
>
> East Asia & Pacific - Singapore #1
> East Europe & Central Asia - Georgia #15
> Latin America & Caribbean - Colombia #34
> Middle East & North Africa - UAE # 22
> South Asia - Sri Lanka #99
> Sub Saharan Africa - Mauritius #28
>
> A lower ranking is better as you probably gathered.
>
> Your task is to nominate the ranking of these 10 countries:
>
> Argentina

116

> Eritrea

194

> Greece

77

> India

107

> New Zealand

27

> Nigeria

138

> Thailand

29

> United Kingdom

14

> United States

8

> Venezuela

104




--
Dan Tilque

[Calvin]

On Wednesday, July 8, 2015 at 11:33:59 AM UTC+10, Calvin wrote:

> Welcome to RQ188.
>
> It is based on the 2014 World Bank Group "ease of doing business" index. Countries are ranked from 1-218

Well that's not quite right, as it's 1-189 actually. I dumped the data into an excel spreadsheet and failed to realise that there were two entries for some countries. I don't think it has a major effect on the outcome, but apologies all the same.

>on the basis how conducive their regulatory environment is for the starting and operation of a local firm. The rankings take 10 factors into account:
>
> Starting a Business
> Dealing with Construction Permits
> Getting Electricity
> Registering Property
> Getting Credit
> Protecting Minority Investors
> Paying Taxes
> Trading Across Borders
> Enforcing Contracts
> Resolving Insolvency

The full list is here: http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings

It is interesting to note how poorly some western countries score on some of the factors.

> To assist you in your task, here are the rankings for the top-ranked country in the following regions:
>
> East Asia & Pacific - Singapore #1
> East Europe & Central Asia - Georgia #15
> Latin America & Caribbean - Colombia #34
> Middle East & North Africa - UAE # 22
> South Asia - Sri Lanka #99
> Sub Saharan Africa - Mauritius #28

Some entrants failed to take advantage of this information.

> A lower ranking is better as you probably gathered.
>
> Your task is to nominate the ranking of these 10 countries:

Here they are with their actual rankings:

> Argentina 124
> Eritrea 189
> Greece 61
> India 142
> New Zealand 2
> Nigeria 170
> Thailand 26
> United Kingdom 8
> United States 7
> Venezuela 182

>
> Your score will be the sum of the differences between your nominated rankings and the actual rankings. So if you nominate India at #100 and it is actually #123, your score is 23. The lowest aggregate score wins. I hope that clear enough but ask if not.
>
> The normal rules apply: use your wits only, answer by responding to this post (in rgt, not via email) within 7 days, and a modest donation to my papyal a/c won't do your chances of success any harm.

I learnt with regret that rgt rates very highly on the graft criterion :-)

> Have fun and good luck!

Mark B SWP Dan B Erland S Peter S Dan T
13 0 2 8 7 25
4 3 4 7 5 1
2 2 3 4 3 6
34 14 16 32 28 3
0 5 11 49 15 16
94 15 94 54 60 8
111 33 32 33 31 35
50 29 50 50 74 32
120 17 142 104 114 78
11 29 99 11 3 5
439 147 453 352 340 209

Stephen is the clear winner and so free to do with RQ#189 as he sees fit. Thanks for playing.

cheers,
calvin

[Mark Brader]

"Calvin":

> Mark B SWP Dan B Erland S Peter S Dan T
> 13 0 2 8 7 25
> 4 3 4 7 5 1
> 2 2 3 4 3 6

> ...

That table puzzled me until I realized that it was sorted according to
the actual ranks of the countries, which, of course, could not be done
in the question posting. The scores are correct, though, as far as
I can see.

Here's a table of the posted answers in alphabetical order, as in the
questions, and the resulting scores.

Answers:
ACTUAL Mark B SWP Dan B Erland S Peter S Dan T
Argen. 124 30 109 30 70 64 116
Erit. 189 200 218 90 200 186 194
Greece 61 61 66 50 110 76 77
India 142 31 109 110 109 111 107
NZ 2 15 2 4 10 9 27
Nig'ia 170 120 199 120 120 96 138
Thai. 26 60 40 42 58 54 29
UK 8 10 10 5 12 11 14
US 7 11 10 3 14 12 8
Venez. 182 62 199 40 78 68 104


Scores:

Mark B SWP Dan B Erland S Peter S Dan T

Argentina 94 15 94 54 60 8
Eritrea 11 29 99 11 3 5
Greece 0 5 11 49 15 16
India 111 33 32 33 31 35
NZ 13 0 2 8 7 25
Nigeria 50 29 50 50 74 32
Thailand 34 14 16 32 28 3
UK 2 2 3 4 3 6
US 4 3 4 7 5 1
Venezuela 120 17 142 104 114 78

SCORE 439 147 453 352 340 209
PLACING 5th 1st 6th 4th 3rd 2nd


Anyway, well done to Stephen! And thanks to Calvin for creativity.
--
Mark Brader "Could you please continue the petty bickering?
Toronto I find it most intriguing."
m...@vex.net -- Data ("Haven", ST:TNG, Tracy Torme)

[Erland Sommarskog]

Calvin (334...@gmail.com) writes:
> Well that's not quite right, as it's 1-189 actually. I dumped the data
> into an excel spreadsheet and failed to realise that there were two
> entries for some countries. I don't think it has a major effect on the
> outcome, but apologies all the same.
>

The major effect was that Stephen got a worse score because he correctly
guess that they were at the bottom of the back. I knew that they were
down in the gutter, but took 200 because that was a round number. And,
after all, no country could trail North Korea, could it? Later, when
Stephen has posted his slate, I recalled that I had seen a note in the
papers about some list where North Korea had only been next-to-last. Most
likely it was this one.

I will have to admit that I grossly underrated the climate in Greece.

[Calvin]

On Thursday, July 16, 2015 at 4:18:44 AM UTC+10, Mark Brader wrote:
> "Calvin":
> > Mark B SWP Dan B Erland S Peter S Dan T
> > 13 0 2 8 7 25
> > 4 3 4 7 5 1
> > 2 2 3 4 3 6
> > ...
>
> That table puzzled me until I realized that it was sorted according to
> the actual ranks of the countries, which, of course, could not be done
> in the question posting. The scores are correct, though, as far as
> I can see.
>
> Here's a table of the posted answers in alphabetical order, as in the
> questions, and the resulting scores.

Thanks Mark- I should have posted the table sorted that way as well.

> Anyway, well done to Stephen! And thanks to Calvin for creativity.

I trust that's not a euphemism :-)

cheers,
calvin