This volume creditably brings together a set of studies that give the reader an overview of the evolution of moral persuasion and voluntary compliance by corporations to formal and informal regulations that govern them. It also gives us the relative effectiveness of voluntarism and regulation in different regions of the world. The message that the book leaves the reader with is that sustainable development is a social goal and capital as a social agent has an important role to play. The question is, will it do so voluntarily or does it have to be externally regulated? The findings are not unequivocal and this leaves a window for future research in this area.
The book was reviewed by Pranab Mukhopadhyay, Goa University, India.
This review is posted with the permission from "
Economic & Political Weekly", Vol. XLVI, No 37, 10 September 2011.