Are there examples of credible arrangements going against individual interests?

[T]he perceived support for land reallocations transcends individual actors’ interests for the larger benefit of the collective and sets this proxy apart from other proxies. It namely resonates with the definition of credibility as a measure of individual actors’ aggregate perceptions of an institution as a jointly shared arrangement. (…) [T]he Chinese state’s failure to establish a secure, formal, and registered lease system tells us something about the collective perception of an institutionalized, insecure land tenure that needs to be upheld, even when going against individual interests. We will see below, that exactly this divide between collective versus individual interests is also shown in the answers of the respondents.” 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, p. 18.

[ap_toggle title=”READ MORE” status=”close”]“[T]he survey also indicates a paradoxical distinction between collective versus individual interests. Whereas we saw earlier that the overall majority of farmers support an insecure tenure as a means of collective social security, a certain proportion also hopes for more secure tenure for themselves. (…) At this point, we can clearly see a distinction between farmers’ perceptions of the social need for readjustments by the collective versus the legal protection of their individual rights. In other words, the land readjustments might at the individual level lead to discontent, yet, at the collective level they are still perceived as a credible, common arrangement as the readjustments guarantee that everyone has equal access to land.” 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. 21-22.

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