Schelling (1989) canvasses peculiar devices for securing compliance with promises in such difficult contexts as those between strangers. Establishing reliability in such contexts requires strong measures, such as subjecting oneself to risk of real, often unrelated, harm if one fails to comply with one’s promise.

XREF: Connects to game theory and commitment devices literature (Schelling's strategy of commitment), and to hostage-based trust-building in anthropology and economics.

Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, loc. 910