entitled "Best Markets for Entrepreneurial Finance." This index ranks 121 countries by how easily new and existing firms can access capital.

As PSD blogger Pablo Halykard points out, 17 of the lowest-ranking 20 countries are in Africa, which is the lowest scoring region of the world. Interestingly, the Middle East scores higher than Europe--but this is skewed by countries like Saudi Arabia, whose oil revenues are so high they do not have income tax, and therefore retain more capital.