FAT Framework

For more information, see “An Endogenous Theory of Property Rights: Opening the Black Box of Institutions”, Journal of Peasant Studies, 2016, Vol. 43., No. 6, pp. 1121-1144

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What is the history of the concept of credibility?

“[C]redibility was initially coined as an explanandum for the success and failure of Western monetary, anti-inflationary policies in the 1970s (Kydland and Prescott, 1977; Fellner, 1979). The widely flaunted idea was that the success of economic policy ultimately depends on the (state’s) credible commitment to free markets, trade liberalization, the privatization of government-owned enterprises and resources, and legal security for property rights. In this sense, the initial reading of the notion of credibility has a distinct neo-liberal signature. See Peter Ho, “The ‘Credibility Thesis’ and its Application to Property Rights: (In)secure Land Tenure and Social Welfare in China”, Land Use Policy, 2014, Vol. 40, September, pp. 15–16.

However, in her critique of the neo-liberal interpretation of credibility, Grabel (2000, p. 1) hit the nail on the head when she stated that “the credibility criterion is used to privilege neo-liberal economic policies and associated institutions.” Yet, at the same time, she made the crucial observation that: “credibility is always secured endogenously (. . .) rather than exogenously by virtue of the epistemological status of the theory that promotes it.” If we conceptualize credibility along this dimension – an endogenous feature tied to the nature of institutions, instead of something that could be accomplished exogenously, the notion becomes devoid of neo-liberal axioms and political convictions.” See P. Ho, “The ‘Credibility Thesis’ and its Application to Property Rights: (In)secure Land Tenure and Social Welfare in China“, Land Use Policy, 2014, 40, Sept, pp. 15-16.

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