This article explores how firms use voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) strategically to preempt stricter government regulations.

Key Findings: Even modest private efforts dissuaded voters, activists, and officials from demanding more stringent public rules. The effect was strongest when all industry companies adopted VEPs.

Our argument challenges the view that businesses solely rely on lobbying to shape policy. Instead, we demonstrate how voluntary restraint can be a powerful political tool.

Implications: This finding reveals an understudied source of corporate influence and suggests private regulation may have significant limits as a standalone strategy.

The study employs experimental methods with three distinct groups: voters, activists, and government officials.