Empirical research is needed to establish the optimal level of business regulation-for example, what the duration of court procedures should be and what the optimal degree of social protection is. The indicators compiled in the Doing Business project allow such research to take place. Since the start of the project in November 2001, more than 3,000 academic papers have used one or more indicators constructed in Doing Business and the related background papers by its authors.

Keywords: Empirical Research, Business Regulation, Doing Business Project.