Greening industry without enforcement? An assessment of the World Bank's pollution regulation model for developing countries

The best comparative and overview source now available for knowledge about
pollution regulation in developing countries is the 2000 World Bank policy
research report called Greening Industry. The World Bank finds that there
is a new model for pollution regulation in lower- and middle-level income
countries that is an alternative to "traditional" command and control regulation.
The new model stresses flexible norms and nonstate pressures on regulated
enterprises coming from communities and markets. This article presents an
investigation into this new model. It finds that the prevalence of weak law
enforcement may undermine the new model’s potential to control pollution in
developing countries. It also contends that social and market pressures only
occur under certain circumstances often not found in lower- and middle-level
income countries. Therefore, the article concludes that developing countries
require smart mixes of various regulatory instruments appropriate in the given
state and nonstate regulatory capacities, instead of contrasting state and nonstate
regulation.