This research provides a database and a set of indicators on the main restrictions to retail trade in Spain’s Regions between 1997 and 2007. These restrictions deal with the following regulatory aspects: shop opening hours, sales periods, definitions of “big” stores, licensing of discount stores, moratoria in retail trade license issuing and taxes on big stores. The paper presents an aggregate indicator constructed on the basis of these restrictions using factor analysis. Finally, this research estimates the effect of commercial regulations on commercial density, the number of employees of the sector and the rate of inflation. To do this, panel data models are applied to the analysis. The estimations show that an increase in the level of restrictiveness increases commercial density (specifically favouring supermarkets) and inflation among the regions but diminishes the number of persons employed in the sector and has a negative impact on the major commercial formats.

Key words: Retail regulation, barriers to entry, shop opening hours.
JEL classification: K23, L81.