The burden of excessive paperwork is more than just a financial and time-consuming inconvenience. It cause delays which may inhibit entrepreneurial motivation; international trade of raw manufactured or cultural goods; the distribution of food aid; and, in cases of law, medicine, and social services, could constitute the difference between life and death.
In 1984 in Lima, Peru, an entrepreneur registered his new clothing factory. It took him 289 days to complete the 310 required steps; and the paperwork involved, if stretched end to end, would have extended 30 metres. Also in Peru, the owner of a bus company spends 46 hours a month completing government demanded paperwork; and in and average year the Peruvian legislature issues almost 20,000 laws, decrees, and edicts, all of which must be written down. A 1985 report in the UK found many jobs had been lost and/or small businesses closed because of the reticence of owners to tackle all the governmental paperwork; and in Australia, excessive paperwork can lead to delays in search response time (by the government-controlled Search and Rescue operation) for people lost at sea, sometimes resulting in their deaths.