According to Inc. magazine, Canada clocked in at #3 most favorable countries in the world to start a business in.  The United States wasn't even in the top 10.  Is this because Canada has less regulations and welfare to hinder businesses from starting up than the United States?

http://www.inc.com/ss/9-best-countries-start-business-right-now#7

Probably, i mean there isn't a massive population to cater to so starting in Canada isn't the best idea a business man could make.

This is because Canada's Government has always made business its priority. When it comes to Canadian Politics the two main parties that have been in charge (Liberals/Conservatives) have both seen business as one of the biggest priorities to Canadian success. I wouldn't say our regulations are that low.

But the Government grants billions in grants each year to new businesses. They also give huge tax incentives to small businesses and those incentives grow if the company hires more employees and expands operations.

Canada has always sought to attract business from the outside world as well as make the country a breeding ground for companies in multiple industries. Many initiatives such as the CRTC make film and music very profitable if started in Canada. Mainly because by law Canadian radio stations and television stations have to play a certain amount of Canadian content to be on the air in Canada. This means that Canadian products need to be created and thus new companies and international companies have to set up shop in Canada in order to operate here.

While Canada has allowed tons of international corporations to move in, they still try hard to protect the smaller companies and give them an opportunity to take on the larger chains. I don't know if the US has similar policies? Example I want to start a new company and sell a new product I can apply for a grant from the Government to get me started. Then the Government will help me with taxes and such until my company is a huge success or goes down in flames.

Could be... less regulations that is.

Canada does rank higher then the US on the "Heritage Index of Economic Freedom."   Scoring 5 points higher on buisness freedoms... and there effective buisness tax is much lower i believe.

Indicating they have less regulations on buisnesses and lower taxes on them.

EDIT: Yep, Canadian corporations pay on average 19.8%.  American Corporations 25.7%.

I somehow doubt Rwanda is actually in the top 10 for starting a buisness though...

In fact... of the 10 countries listed...

The Top ones are all above the US in economic freedom....

and the bottom ones all talk about easing regulation and making it easier for rich people to invest.

I don't think this article is making the point you want it to make.

Actually, looking at the first page....

The World Bank's annual Doing Business report ranks the ease of doing business within 183 countries based on business-friendly regulations.

So yes.  Less regulations are definitvly the reason Canada is ahead of the US.

And looking up the World Bank Numbers... what brings down the US economy?

Apparently Taxes are too high and the US has a Debt problem.

http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings

By that measure, the United States ranks above Canada though overall.

Nevermind, see below post... it infact is regulations, well fees due to regulations.

WHY WASN'T MEXICO ON THAT LIST?!!!!!! Or any other Latin American country?

Ah nevermind, I FINALLY found the methods section.

Ease of starting a buisness was done like this.

"Days starting to buisness + Cost of per capita income to start a buisness due to regulation fees + amount of money in the bank."

Canada beats the US because it takes them 5 days to start a buisness vs 6, and because they pay much less in buisness fees and in paying to comply with US laws, which will only get higher with the new healthcare law.  Neither requires buisnesses to have money in the bank.

So yeah, it actually is still regulations.

http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploretopics/starting-a-business

To be honest i hate World Bank Studies though, or really any UNish multicountry study.

there information is always scattered over 20 pages with hard to find links, like it was 1994 and their 1-??? rankings are largely arbitrary.

Rwanda ranks up so high because you can open a buisness in 3 days!  Even though it's going to cost you 4% of your income vs like... 1% in the US or .4% in canda.

Me i'll wait the extra 2 days to save 3.5% of my yearly income.

If I was weighting the study I'd do

"Fee's paid + Fee's needed to be stored in a bank" as the first rate...

then if any are still even divide it by

Fee's needed in a bank being the better of the two to be higher because you still theoretcially have that money long term.

Then days to open just as a further tie breaker.