That what ultimately determines the performance of institutions is not their form in terms of formality, privatization, or security, but their spatially and temporally defined function. In different wording, institutional Function presides over Form; the former can be expressed by its credibility, that is, the perceived social support at a given time and space. This postulate is dubbed the “credibility thesis”.

P. Ho (2017), Unmaking China’s Development, Cambridge University Press, p. 81

Welcome to RECOLAND, the site devoted to the study of the credibility of institutions. The concept of “credibility” was coined in economics and political science, yet, in general has been little researched, let alone, in relation to institutions and property rights. To further the study in this important area is this platform’s aim and ambition. Its research is kindly supported through an ERC Advanced Grant of the European Research Council (ERC).