Our paper analyses the link between business regulations and entrepreneurship and investigates how certain areas of business regulation affect the dynamics of creating new firms. Moreover, we aim to identify which indicators of business regulation would be most relevant for supporting and promoting entrepreneurship. The study focuses on a sample of European countries, uses panel-data estimation techniques and targets a period of seventeen years

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... 11)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018)(2019). In our empirical analysis, the dependent variable is alternately represented by three indicators that measure the forms of early-stage entrepreneurship. Regarding the independent variables included in the analysis, we use as proxies of business regulations different quantitative measures for six areas of business regulation. In addition, to ensure accuracy of results, we include a set of control variables, such as GDP per capita, population growth, and the educational level. The results of our empirical investigation show that regulations on starting a business, registering property, and enforcing contracts would be the most important predictors of setting up new firms in European countries analysed. Through its content, the paper underlines the vital need for improving business regulations to encourage entrepreneurship and implicitly to improve the macroeconomic performance of countries. The findings of our research may be of interest to researchers, concerned with examining the determinants of entrepreneurship evolution, and to policymakers, who should give priority to identifying appropriate measures that target those areas of business regulation that would have the greatest effect on the creation of new firms.