Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Economy Rankings

Economy Rankings

Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business, from 1–190. A high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm. The rankings are determined by sorting the aggregate distance to frontier scores on 10 topics, each consisting of several indicators, giving equal weight to each topic. The rankings for all economies are benchmarked to June 2016. Read the methodology, explaining how the ease of doing business rankings and the distance to frontier measure are calculated (PDF).
 = Subnational Doing Business data available.
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Economy 
Ease of Doing Business Rank 
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 
1
1
1
34
1
1
1
11
55
13
34
2
6
10
10
19
20
1
8
41
2
29
3
24
6
14
12
32
19
7
1
24
8
4
3
5
3
61
20
3
3
42
21
28
5
11
31
1
39
44
13
23
32
1
4
6
21
43
12
14
75
9
26
22
4
6
7
16
17
17
47
20
6
10
28
31
13
8
51
39
36
36
2
41
36
35
20
5
9
15
25
6
10
75
19
28
18
22
19
10
4
11
29
48
16
13
9
27
36
32
11
19
3
2
17
62
22
30
68
14
22
12
14
9
38
6
32
53
21
17
11
42
13
28
40
18
20
44
70
13
33
30
1
14
22
23
42
23
7
42
15
25
23
44
15
7
2
41
45
5
63
25
91
3
21
16
8
8
39
3
7
7
22
54
16
106
17
114
12
5
79
32
53
48
38
17
3
18
10
38
33
41
32
13
5
47
90
17


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Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Larry Page isn't the only one trying to make 'flying cars' a reality

Larry Page isn't the only one trying to make 'flying cars' a reality

larry page flying car patentAn early patent of Zee.Aero'scraft.US Patent and Trademark Office
A "flying car" prototype developed by Zee.Aero, the company Google co-founder Larry Page has been funding, was spotted in the wild last week, according to a report Monday in the Monterey Herald.
Witnesses in Hollister, California reportedly saw the vertical take-off plane hover about 25 feet above the ground, land, and then hover again. Many are referring to planes of this nature as flying cars because of their ability to take off vertically, which allows them to be stowed in driveways.
Zee.Aero isn't the only company interested in vertical take-off planes — here are 5 others.

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1. German company eVolo wants to make its multicopter the future of urban mobility. Called the Volocopter, it has 18 rotors and can fit two people.

1. German company eVolo wants to make its multicopter the future of urban mobility. Called the Volocopter, it has 18 rotors and can fit two people.
eVolo

The Volocopter is powered by six batteries that allow for 20 minutes of flight, but eVolo is working to get that up to an hour. The company has begun manned testing in Germany and aims to roll out a production model in two years.

The final version of the Volocopter will be able to reach 62 miles per hour. It has 130 independent computers onboard that could allow it to fly autonomously later on.

The final version of the Volocopter will be able to reach 62 miles per hour. It has 130 independent computers onboard that could allow it to fly autonomously later on.
e-Volo

2. Airbus is developing a vertical take-off plane under its Silicon Valley arm A³ as part of its Project Vahana. The aircraft will be autonomous and can carry a single passenger or cargo.

2. Airbus is developing a vertical take-off plane under its Silicon Valley arm A³ as part of its Project Vahana. The aircraft will be autonomous and can carry a single passenger or cargo.
Project Vahana
A³ CEO Rodin Lyasoff said in a Medium post that it will fly a full-size prototype before the end of 2017 and have a "productizable demonstrator" by 2020. You can see a rendering of the Project Vahana aircraft above, which Airbus has said will be used for commercial or personal use.

Airbus is also designing a flying taxi system, named CityAirbus, that would have multiple propellers and resemble a small drone. Multiple people would be able to book a ride on the flying taxi system via an app.

Airbus is also designing a flying taxi system, named CityAirbus, that would have multiple propellers and resemble a small drone. Multiple people would be able to book a ride on the flying taxi system via an app.
Airbus Group
Airbus wrote on its website that the CityAirbus taxi would first be operated by a pilot, but that a fully autonomous version would be released once regulations are in place. However, the flying taxi wouldn't land and pick you up from wherever. You would have to go to the "nearest helipad" for a lift after booking a seat.

3. Chinese drone company EHang is working to get its giant, taxi drone in the air as soon as federal regulations will allow it. It can carry 220 pounds, cruise at 62 mph, and fly over 11,000 feet.

3. Chinese drone company EHang is working to get its giant, taxi drone in the air as soon as federal regulations will allow it. It can carry 220 pounds, cruise at 62 mph, and fly over 11,000 feet.
EHang

The EHang is another Uber-like system in that passengers would enter their desired location and the drone would then fly on its own.

The EHang is another Uber-like system in that passengers would enter their desired location and the drone would then fly on its own.
Steven Tweedie/Business Insider

A prototype of the EHang has been tested in China, but the company is still working to get approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to begin flying in the US.

A prototype of the EHang has been tested in China, but the company is still working to get approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to begin flying in the US.
Steven Tweedie/Business Insider

4. Terrafugia is building a car that can take off, fly, and land autonomously — but you would still have to drive it manually.

4. Terrafugia is building a car that can take off, fly, and land autonomously — but you would still have to drive it manually.
Terrafugia

The plug-in hybrid has a range of 500 miles, and it can take off vertically so you don't need to be on a runway for lift off.

The plug-in hybrid has a range of 500 miles, and it can take off vertically so you don't need to be on a runway for lift off.
Terrafugia

Passengers can simply enter their desired location and it will fly on its own. The company has said a production version will be ready by 2025.

Passengers can simply enter their desired location and it will fly on its own. The company has said a production version will be ready by 2025.
Terrafugia

5. Uber is interested in using small planes that can vertically take off for short-haul trips within cities.

5. Uber is interested in using small planes that can vertically take off for short-haul trips within cities.
REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Uber's head of products Jeff Holden recently told Recode that a commercial aircraft could be viable within a decade.

More: Features Taxi Flying Car BITranspo 
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The world's oldest bank is cutting 2,600 jobs — and shares are crashing

The world's oldest bank is cutting 2,600 jobs — and shares are crashing

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renzi1Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi pouts.Reuters
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the stricken Italian lender, will cut about 2,600 workers as part of accelerated plans to overhaul the bank.
Italy's third-largest lender said on Tuesday it would cut about 10% of its total staffing costs, adding that it would close about 500 branches by 2019. That will drop the bank's total number of sites to roughly 1,500 from 2,000.
The bank's new cost-cutting plan also includes the disposal of MPS' merchant acquiring business — an activity in which the bank processes credit- and debit-card payments on behalf of a merchant.
The cuts are part of a plan to turn around MPS and attract investments into a €5 billion recapitalisation plan for the lender. The lender's bad loans have concerned investors, pushing the bank to the brink of collapse. As a result of the new cuts, MPS' management says it is aiming for a net profit of more than €1 billion by 2019 and a return on equity of about 11%.
After the new plans were announced, the bank's shares took off in early trade before crashing sharply midmorning, moving from a jump of 14% to a fall of 13% in about 20 minutes. Here's how it looks at 12:15 p.m. BST (7:15 a.m. ET):
MPS lunchtime oct 25Markets Insider
Before woes about the future of Deutsche Bank started to spook the markets in September, MPS was Europe's most worrying bank, having come dead last in the European Banking Authority's stress tests over the summer.
The bank would be insolvent in less than three years under an "adverse scenario," according to the results of the stress test, which also showed that Monte dei Paschi had the biggest deterioration in its key capital ratio, the so-called fully loaded common equity tier one ratio, or CET1 ratio, which takes into account new regulations set to take effect in the near future.
Monte dei Paschi's CET1 ratio fell by 14.51% since the previous test, leaving Italy's third-largest lender with a ratio 0f -2.44%, suggesting that the bank would become insolvent in the event of a substantial economic shock over the next three years. The 14.51% fall was more than four times the average fall of about 3.4%.
The bank has gained a new CEO since the tests, after former boss Fabrizio Viola resigned in August after being involved in an investigation into suspected false accounting and market manipulation.
Monte dei Paschi must try to get rid of a near €30 billion surfeit of bad loans to avoid a European Union-mandated bail-in, something the bank, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, and the EU are all keen to avoid.
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More: Monte dei Paschi Italian Banking Italy Crisis Markets Insider
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