alt Hacker NewsCredit scores in the US function similarly to this risk assessment you describe, with the caveat that there is no standard way to measure risk without a credit history. In my experience, it does not take very long to establish that baseline, and there are inexpensive vehicles to do so, such as secured credit cards. Small-scale lenders are likely to accept alternative documents like income statements or proof of payment history to qualify. FICO scores, as imperfect as they are, merely simplify the risk assessment process.
I suppose it may be related to the overall "looser" grip on who exists, and what counts as collateral. If I "default" on a loan, the lender is still pretty safe to get back most or all of it, since any loan is secured by my future income. So there's not as much need to prove my credit history - my income is public and always was, and my future income is collateral for any loan, including mortgages if my house is suddenly under water in a recession.
That means that barring any failures to service credit in the past, I don't need a history of successfully servicing credit in order to get credit.