Abstract
While many scholars have studied urban bias in public policy, the potential for bias in the private provision of public goods has received little attention. Private certification is a mechanism encouraging private provision of environmental public goods. We show that within countries, there are often wide disparities in certification rates between firms located in urban and non-urban areas. However, these disparities can be mitigated if there is a countervailing force: scrutiny of firms' practices by key stakeholders. We suggest that the presence of strong civil society, independent media, a functioning state regulatory apparatus, and multinational owners can ameliorate the urban bias in certification uptakes. We test this argument with global, firm-level data covering over 40,000 firms in ninety-three countries. Our analyses suggest that an urban bias is mitigated when stakeholders - both public and private - have the freedom and capacity to scrutinize firms' activities.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 273-300 |
Number of pages | 28 |
Journal | Business and Politics |
Volume | 20 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 1 2018 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- environmental governance
- information
- private regulation
- urban bias
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Industrial relations
- Political Science and International Relations