Doing Business in 2005 is the second in a series of annual reports investigating the scope and manner of regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. New quantitative indicators on business regulations and their enforcement can be compared across 145 countries—from Albania to Zimbabwe—and over time. Doing Business in 2004:understanding Regulation presented indicators in 5 topics: starting a business, hiring and firing workers, enforcing contracts, getting credit and closing a business. Doing Business in 2005 updates these measures and adds another two sets: registering property and protecting investors. The indicators are used to analyze economic and social outcomes, such as productivity, investment, informality, corruption, unemployment, and poverty, and identify what reforms have worked, where and why.