New Governance and Industry Culture

Abstract

New governance scholarship argues that private regulation is playing a larger role in influencing industry behavior relative to state-centric methods of regulation. Despite its burgeoning growth, new governance scholarship is critiqued as lacking practical examples. This article fills the void by conducting an institutional law and economics analysis of forestry sustainability certifications, a classic example of private regulation. This article analyzes the features of the forestry industry that contribute to the success of sustainability certifications within it. It finds that the industrial characteristics that contribute to successful private regulatory regimes include strong norms within the industry, a resource-type that favors user-developed rules, and robust competition among private actors to regulate the industry. These findings suggest new governance can and does succeed in industries with similar characteristics, providing a novel real-world example of theoretical new governance ideals in practice.