Kendra Schaefer 凯娜

I finally had time to sit down and read this very long recent essay by Lin Junyue, often called the "Father of China's Social Credit System." In it, he outlines the biggest problems with China's SCS today. https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzI3ODM1MzI3NA==&mid=2247505090&idx=1&sn=3a2f77da5f3cd0f3c2569dfe82815156&chksm=eb5ad0d7dc2d59c1e4b4e9ab08de7c6e127b4da5dc5b1b39ef2dbeae6195e86cdac73be71fb6&mpshare=1&scene=1&srcid=0914Fl5QPhqm2CtyWQo2EOa6&sharer_sharetime=1605762808203&sharer_shareid=fd85dcda3230db6e5236fe000328aeb9&exportkey=AfpmKEgOykmzdqSrF3Tt0sM%3D&pass_ticket=KORfiviO31yIuCzKQ31nUQHX2ilcNdiQAutYi0EP2Lg8o1lBcz%2BoYVi8DMrnchOK&wx_header=0#rd …

The essay (and his previous work) segments national credit systems into two types: market-led systems, and government-led systems. Lin has always seen the US (financial) credit system and China's social credit system as being predicated on the same basic set of principles:

As individuals and companies buy, borrow, transact, live, work, and play, data is collected. That data is then processed and used to make risk assessments. The difference in market-driven systems vs. gov-driven systems is what kind of data is collected, and what it is used for.

In a market-driven system, the data that is collected is usually financial, like loan repayment data. That's because this is the kind of data market entities have access to. In a gov-driven credit system, legal and admin data is used, because that's what governments have.

Lin worries that neither model is quite right for China, and both have obvious defects. He also thinks China has focused too much on the government model in the last 5 years.

Problem with government model: China's (social) credit model goes against international credit norms, and will make it difficult for China to link up to international credit standards. He also notes it "has opened us up to international attacks and misunderstandings."

Also, government-driven credit systems are expensive, resource-intensive, and require constant top-down pressure to develop.

Problems with market-driven credit models: use cases are much more narrow, in that they can only really assess financial risk, they cannot double as a tool of social governance.