Research on the Credibility Thesis has appeared with numerous SSCI/SCI-rated journals, including: Asia-Pacific Business Review, Cities, Ecological Economics, Environment & Planning, Environ. Sc. & Policy, Geoforum, Habitat International, J. Economic Issues, J. Peasant Studies, J. Urban Affairs, Land Use Policy, Natural Resources Forum, Rev. of Political Economy, World Development, etc.

Special issues and books (click titles to download)

• The Credibility Thesis, a decade onwards: A review of the field, findings and future, in Land Use Policy, Vol. 146, November 2024, 107232
• Liu Ran, Urban Village Redevelopment in Beijing, China: New Housing Opportunities for Migrant Workers, London: Springer Publishing, 2024
• The Credibility of (In)formality – Or, the irrelevance of institutional form in judging performance, in Cities, Vol. 99, April 2020, 102609
• The discipline of form: why the premise of institutional form does not apply to capital, technology, land and labor, in Journal of Chinese Governance, 2020, DOI: 10.1080/23812346.2020.1841975
• Institutional function versus form: The evolutionary credibility of land, housing and natural resources, in Land Use Policy, 2018, 75/6
• Peter Ho,  Unmaking China’s Development: The Function and Credibility of Institutions, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017
• An Endogenous Theory of Property Rights: Opening the Black Box of Institutions, in Journal of Peasant Studies, 2016, 43/6 also available as book (Routledge, 2019)

Credibility Thesis in international studies (click for open access)

General theory and methodology

• Lai, L.W.C., The Credibility Thesis meeting the Coase Theorem in terms of form and function, Land Use Policy, 2024, 147, 107335
• Vatn, A., The credibility thesis – A commentary from an original institutionalist position, Land Use Policy, 2023, Vol. 131, 106717
• Groenewegen, J., Institutional form (blueprints) and institutional function (process): Theoretical reflections on property rights and land, Land Use Policy, 2022, Vol. 121, 106300,
• Ghorbani, A., Ho, P., & Bravo, G. Institutional form versus function in a common property context: The credibility thesis tested through an agent-based model. Land Use Policy, 2021, 102, 105237, doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.105
• Benjamin Davy, “After form. The credibility thesis meets property theory“, Land Use Policy, 2018, 79/12, pp. 854-862

Land

• Oscar Perez-Moreno, Urban inequality and the social function of land value capture: The credibility thesis, financing tools and planning in Latin America, Land Use Policy, Vol. 146, 2024, 107285
• Hao Zhang, Guangcheng Ren, Shuyi Feng, Institutional credibility and land investment: Evidence from new-round land certification program in China, Natural Resources Forum, 2024: 1–23
• Nesru H. Koroso, Urban land policy and urban land use efficiency: An analysis based on remote sensing and institutional credibility thesis, Land Use Policy, Vol. 132, 2023, 106827
• Huirong Chen, Linking institutional function with form: Distributional dynamics, disequilibrium, and rural land shareholding in China, Land Use Policy, Vol. 120, 2022, 106283
• Yugank Goyal, Pranab Ranjan Choudhury, Ranjan Kumar Ghosh , “Informal land leasing in rural India persists because it is credible”, Land Use Policy, 2022, 120, 106299
• Heyuan You, Jinrong Zhang, Yan Song, “Assessing conflict of farmland institutions using credibility theory: Implications for socially acceptable land use”, Land Use Policy, 2022, 112, 105817
• Huirong Chen, “Institutional credibility and informal institutions: The case of extralegal land development in China,” Cities, 2020, Vol. 97, February, 10.1016/j.cities.2019.102519
• Nesru H. Koroso, Jaap A. Zevenbergen, Monica Lengoiboni, “Land institutions’ credibility: Analyzing the role of complementary institutions”, Land Use Policy, 2019, 81, pp. 553–564
• Donald Clarke, “Form and function in China’s urban land regime: The irrelevance of “ownership”, Land Use Policy, 2018, 79/12, pp. 902-912
• Jesper Willaing Zeuthen, “Whose urban development? Changing credibilities, forms and functions of urbanization in Chengdu, China”, Land Use Policy, 2018, 79/12, pp. 942-951
• Eva Pils, “Assessing evictions and expropriations in China: efficiency, credibility and rights”, Land Use Policy, 2016, Vol. 58, pp. 437-444.

Slums, illegality and affordable housing in Global North

• Adam Sheppard and Katie McClymont, “Credibility without Legitimacy? Informal development in a highly regulated context“, Cities, 2020, Vol. 97, 102520, 10.1016/j.cities.2019.102520
• Pablo Celhay and Diego Gil McCawley, “The Function and Credibility of Urban Slums: Unexpected Evidence on Informal Settlements and Affordable Housing in Chile”, Cities, 2020, 97, 10.1016/j.cities.2020.102605
• Slavka Zeković, Ksenija Petovar, Bin Md Saman Nor-Hisham, “The credibility of illegal and informal construction: Assessing legalization policies in Serbia“, Cities, 2020, Vol. 97, 102548, 10.1016/j.cities.2019.102548

Informal settlements and housing in Global South

• Ziqi Zhou, Z. and Yung Yau, Revisiting institutional credibility of informal rental housing in Shenzhen: For dwelling function or exclusion function?, Journal of Urban Management,  2023, Vol. 12, No. 2, 112-128
• Manara, M. From policy to institution: Implementing land reform in Dar es Salaam’s unplanned settlements, Environment and Planning A, 2022, 54(7), 1368–1390
• Ziqi Zhou and Yung Yau, “The Small Property Rights Housing Institution in Mainland China: The Perspective of Substitutability of Institutional Functions,” Land, 2021, 10, 915. doi: 10.3390/land10090915
• Mark Oranje, Elsona van Huyssteen, Johan Maritz, “Rapid urbanisation to non-metropolitan urban South Africa: A call for Accrediting credible ‘informal’ life-enhancing responses and institutions, Cities, 2020, 96, pp. 102487, 10.1016/j.cities.2019.102487
• Shouying Liu and Yue Zhang, “Cities without Slums? China’s Land Regime and Dual-track Urbanization“, Cities, 2020, Vol. 101, 102652, 10.1016/j.cities.2020.102652
• Yue Zhang, “The credibility of slums: Informal housing and urban governance in India“, Land Use Policy, 2018, 79/12: 876-890

Urban commons, property and apartment rights

• Cermeño H, Bretfeld N and Bernhardt F., Knowledge Practices Within and Beyond Sharing and Commoning Urban Initiatives, Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, 2022, 4:767365. doi: 10.3389/frsc.2022.767365
• Hazel Easthope, Ryan van den Nouwelant, Sian Thompson, “Apartment ownership around the world: Focusing on credible outcomes rather than ideal systems”, Cities, 2020, 97, February, pp. 102463, 10.1016/j.cities.2019.102463
• Paschalis A. Arvanitidis and George Papagiannitsis, “Urban open spaces as a commons: exploring the credibility thesis in the self governed Navarinou park of Athens, Greece,” Cities, 2020, 97, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2019.102480

Forest and customary rights

• Weiye Wang, Jinlong Liu, “Lessons of government centralization and credibility: A qualitative case-study of administrative change in Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve, China (1982–2018)“, Land Use Policy, 2022, 113, 105907
• Erez Tzfadia, Avinoam Meir, Batya Roded, “Gray local governance and Israeli Indigenous Bedouin: Credibility, functionality and the politics of refusal”, Cities, 2020, 97, 10.1016/j.cities.2019.102484
• Md Bin Saman Nor Hisham and Peter Ho, “A conditional trinity as ‘no-go’ against non-credible development? Resettlement, customary rights and Malaysia’s Kelau Dam”, Journal of Peasant Studies, 2016, Vol.  43., No. 6, pp. 1177-1205. View related VIDEO. Read Malaysia’s last nomadic people (The Guardian) about the Orang Asli, the indigenous people of which this paper is a study.

Grassland

• Shengyue Fan, Miao He, Tianyu Zhang, Yajing Huo, Di Fan, “Credibility measurement as a tool for conserving nature: Chinese herders’ livelihood capitals and payment for grassland ecosystem services”, Land Use Policy, 2022, 115, 106032
• Shengyue Fan, Jinfei Yang, Wenwen Liu, He Wang (2019), “Institutional Credibility Measurement Based on Structure of Transaction Costs: A Case Study of Ongniud Banner in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region,” Ecological Economics, 159, 212–225
• Heng Zhao and Karlis Rokpelnis, “Local perceptions of grassland degradation in China: a socio-anthropological reading of endogenous knowledge and institutional credibility“, Journal of Peasant Studies, 2016, Vol.  43., No. 6, pp. 1206-1223.

Water resources

• Sharlene L. Gomes, Leon M. Hermans, “Institutional function and urbanization in Bangladesh: How peri-urban communities respond to changing environments“, Land Use Policy, 2018, 79/12, pp. 932-941
• Peter P. Mollinga, “Secure rights and non-credibility: the paradoxical dynamics of canal irrigation in India“,  Journal of Peasant Studies, 2016, Vol.  43., No. 6, pp. 1310-1331.

Mineral resources

• Peter Ho and Heng Zhao, Mining conflict and rent-seeking in China: A mixed method analysis of cases of illegality, The Extractive Industries and Society, 2022, 9/3, 101031
• Niels Fold, Albert N.M. Allotey, Per Kalvig, Lasse Moeller-Jensen, Grounding institutions through informal practice: Credibility in artisanal mining of aggregates, Ghana, Land Use Policy, 2018, 79/12, pp. 922-931

Environment, climate, and spatial planning

• Shengyue Fan, Tianyu Zhang & Mengyao Li, “The credibility and bargaining during the process of policy implementation – a case study of China’s prohibition of open burning of crop straw policy“, Journal of Chinese Governance, 2021, DOI: 10.1080/23812346.2020.1765453
• Karoline S. Rogge and Elisabeth Dütschke (2018), “What makes them believe in the low-carbon energy transition? Exploring corporate perceptions of the credibility of climate policy mixes“, Environmental Science and Policy, 87, pp. 74–84
• Jiayu Wu, Yan Song, Jian Lin, Qingsong He (2018), “Tackling the uncertainty of spatial regulations in China: An institutional analysis of the “multi-plan combination‘”, Habitat International, 78, pp. 1–12

Labor, capital and markets

• Thomas Marois, A Dynamic Theory of Public Banks (and Why it Matters), Review of Political Economy, 2021, DOI: 10.1080/09538259.2021.1898110
• Dic Lo, “State-Owned Enterprises in Chinese Economic Transformation: Institutional Functionality and Credibility in Alternative Perspectives,” Journal of Economic Issues, 2020, 54:3, 813-837, DOI: 10.1080/00213624.2020.1791579
• Shih-Jiunn Shi, “The changing credibility of institutions: how household registration systems (hukou) in Mainland China and Taiwan define immigrants’ social benefits“, Journal of Chinese Governance, 2021, DOI: 10.1080/23812346.2021.1896206
• Godfrey Yeung, “Chinese state-owned commercial banks in reform: inefficient and yet credible and functional?”, Journal of Chinese Governance, 2020, DOI: 10.1080/23812346.2020.1772537
• Shuanping Dai & Markus Taube, “Strategic ambiguity in policy formulation: exploring the function of the term “township and village enterprises” in China’s industrial ownership reforms“, Journal of Chinese Governance, 2020, DOI: 10.1080/23812346.2020.1809272
• Frew Mengistu and Meine Pieter van Dijk, “Credibility of institutions in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), effects of government policies on real estate developers“, Land Use Policy, 2018, 79/12: 913-921
• Satoshi Miyamura, “Rethinking labour market institutions in Indian industry: forms, functions and socio-historical contexts“, Journal of Peasant Studies, 2016, Vol.  43., No. 6, pp. 1262-1284.
• Thomas Marois and Ali Rıza Güngen, “Credibility and class in the evolution of public banks: the case of Turkey“,  Journal of Peasant Studies, 2016, Vol.  43., No. 6, pp. 1285-1309.

Economic growth, corruption, and rent-seeking

• Godfrey Yeung & Tai-lok Lui, The Sinicisation of the Hong Kong economy or the Hongkongnisation of the Greater Bay Area: are we ‘barking up the wrong tree’?, Asia Pacific Business Review, 2022, 28:5, 719-739
• Linda Yueh, “The China paradox: the endogenous relationship between law and economic growth“, Journal of Chinese Governance, 2020, DOI: 10.1080/23812346.2020.1785142
• Andrew Wedeman, “Bribery with Chinese Characteristics? Corruption, Fuzzy Property Rights, and Rapid Growth“, East Asia, 2017, 34, pp. 87–111
• Paavo Monkkonen, “Are civil-law notaries rent-seeking monopolists or essential market intermediaries? Endogenous development of a property rights institution in Mexico“,  Journal of Peasant Studies, 2016, Vol.  43., No. 6, pp. 1224-1248.
• Juliette Levy, “A history of institutional function: Mexican notaries and wealth distribution – Yucatan, 1850–1900“, Journal of Peasant Studies, 2016, Vol.  43., No. 6, pp. 1249-1261. 

Publications by the project team

Articles (click for open access)

• Peter Ho, Heng Zhao, The complexity of religious land use: Mosques, titling and informality in China (1949–2023), Land Use Policy, Volume 146,2024, 107262
• Ho, Peter, Bin Md Saman Nor-Hisham, Heng Zhao. “Credibility and the Social Function of Property: A Saga of Mega-Dams, Eviction, and Privatization, as Told by Displaced Communities in Malaysia” Land 13, 2024, no. 8: 1207
• Ho, Peter & Zevenbergen, Jaap & Tan, Rong, “The Credibility Thesis, a decade onwards: A review of the theoretical field, findings and future,” Land Use Policy, 2024, vol. 146, 107232
• Ho, Peter, “Deconstructing the Chinese state via legal pluralism: Historical, religious, indigenous and customary rights in China (1949-present)”,  2022, World Development, 151, 105752
• Heng Zhao and Peter Ho*, “Mining conflict and rent-seeking in China: A mixed method analysis of cases of illegality”, Extractive Industries and Society, 2021, 101031
• Ying Zheng and Peter Ho*, “Unpacking the paradox of “insecure” housing rights in China: Urban residents’ perceptions on institutional credibility”, Cities, 2020, Vol. 97, February, 102485, 10.1016/j.cities.2019.102485
• Li Sun and Peter Ho*, “A model for inclusive, pro-poor urbanization? The credibility of informal, affordable “single-family” homes in China”, Cities, 2020, February, 102465, 10.1016/j.cities.2019.102465
• Kees Krul and Peter Ho*, “Beyond empty forms of formalization: The credibility of a renewed attempt at forest titling in Southwest China”, Geoforum, 2020,Vol. 110, pp. 46-57
• Kees Krul, Peter Ho*, Xiuyun Yang, “Incentivizing household forest management in China’s forest reform: Limitations to rights-based approaches in Southwest China”, 2020, Forest Policy and Economics, Vol. 111, 102075
• Xiuyun Yang and Peter Ho*,“Mining institutions, contention and credibility: A study of court cases in China through the conflict analysis model”, The Extractive Industries and Society, 2019, 19 December, 10.1016/j.exis.2019.11.012
• Xiuyun Yang and Peter Ho, Is mining harmful or beneficial? A survey of local community perspectives in China, 2019, Extractive Industries and Society, 6/2, pp. 584-592
• Peter Ho, “A Theorem on Dynamic Disequilibrium: Debunking Path Dependence and Equilibrium via China’s Urban Property (1949-1998)”, Land Use Policy, 2018, 79, pp. 863-875
• Li Sun and Peter Ho, “Formalizing informal homes, a bad idea: The credibility thesis applied to China’s “extra-legal” housing”, Land Use Policy, 2018, Vol. 79/12, pp. 891–901
• Xiuyun Yang, Heng Zhao, Peter Ho, “Mining-induced displacement and resettlement in China: A study covering 27 villages in 6 provinces“, Resources Policy, 2017, Vol. 53, pp. 408-418. View related VIDEO.
• Kees Krul and Peter Ho, “Alternative Approaches to Food: Community Supported Agriculture in Urban China” Sustainability, 2017, 9(5).
• Peter Ho, “Who owns China’s housing? Endogeneity as a lens to understand ambiguities of urban and rural property“, Cities, 2017, Vol. 65, pp. 66-77.
• Peter Ho, “An endogenous theory of property rights: opening the black box of institutions”, Journal of Peasant Studies, 2016, Vol.  43., No. 6, pp. 1121-1144 (IF: 4.577).
• Peter Ho, “Empty institutions, non-credibility and pastoralism: China’s grazing ban, mining and ethnicity”, Journal of Peasant Studies, 2016, Vol.  43., No. 6, pp. 1145-1176.
• Peter Ho, “Myths of Tenure Security and Titling: Endogenous, Institutional Change of China’s Housing and Land”, Land Use Policy, 2015, Vol. 47, pp. 352–364, IF 3.134.
• 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. 13–27.
  • Downloaded/viewed 1,124 times in 9 months since publication. Review: “credibility is a powerful metric” and “the Credibility Thesis has much to offer both the academic and practitioner perspective on… tenure analysis and policy.” By Delilah Griswold, Yale Environment Review, Spring 2015 Issue.
• Peter Ho, “In Defense of Endogenous, Spontaneously Ordered Development: The Institutional Structure of China’s Rural Urban Property Rights”, Journal of Peasant Studies, 2013, Vol. 40, No. 6, 1087-1118.
  • Awarded with the William Kapp Prize.

Earlier studies

• Lionel V. Pero and Timothy F. Smith (2008), “Institutional credibility and leadership: critical challenges for community-based natural resource governance in rural and remote Australia,” Regional Environmental Change, 8, pp. 15–2
• Peter Ho (2006), “Credibility of Institutions: Forestry, Social Conflict and Titling in China”, Land Use Policy, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 588-603
• Ilene Grabel (2000), “The political economy of ‘policy credibility’: the new-classical macroeconomics and the remaking of emerging economies” Cambridge Journal of Economics, 24 (1), pp. 1-19