This study examines the impact of reforms aimed at reducing red tape barriers for new firms and new exporters in 17 EU Member States. The results confirm that higher bureaucratic barriers are associated with lower entry dynamics and suggest that recent reforms in Portugal, Spain and Italy should have a significant positive impact. The ability of new firms to enter markets is a key element of the transmission mechanism through which market reforms ultimately affect productivity and growth. Reforms that make it easier for new firms to enter therefore have the added benefit of enabling other competition-enhancing reforms to achieve their maximum impact. The report looks at data for Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Slovakia and the UK between 2004 and 2011.
