Situational factors may facilitate or frustrate the translation of entrepreneurial intentions into subsequent actions. In this study, we use data from two waves of a large-scale cross-country study of student entrepreneurship, the Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students' Survey (GUESSS), conducted in 2011 and 2013/2014 (n = 1434 students from 142 universities in nine countries), in order to investigate the impact of country-level institutions (financial market institutions and legal institutions) on the link between entrepreneurial intentions and subsequent start-up activities. We find that the quality of legal institutions has a significant positive impact on the translation of intentions into actions, whereas the quality of the national financial system does not influence the intentions-actions link. Theoretical and public policy implications are discussed.