Country Profile: Estonia, 2009. Enterprise Surveys

摘要

The Enterprise Surveys focus on the many factors that shape the decisions of firms to invest. These factors can be accommodating or constraining and play an important role in whether a country will prosper or not. An accommodating business environment is one that encourages firms to operate efficiently. Such conditions strengthen incentives for firms to innovate and to increase productivity-key factors for sustainable development. A more productive private sector, in turn, expands employment and contributes taxes necessary for public investment in health, education, and other services. In contrast, a poor business environment increases the obstacles to conducting business activities and decreases a country's prospects for reaching its potential in terms of employment, production, and welfare. The Country Profiles produced by the Enterprise Analysis Unit (FPDEA) of the World Bank Group provide an overview of key business environment indicators in each country, benchmarking against their respective geographic region and group of countries with similar incomes. Breakdowns by firm size are presented in the Appendix of the document along with all statistics used to make the graphs. The same topics are covered for all countries with slight variations in indicators (subject to data availability). This format allows cross country comparisons. All indicators are based on the responses of firms. The Country Profile for Estonia is based on data from the Enterprise Surveys conducted by the World Bank. The survey fieldwork in Estonia took place between April 2008 and October 2008. The benchmarks include the averages for the group of countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia as well as the averages for the countries with the same income level as Estonia.