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… is from page 28 of my late colleague Gordon Tullock’s 1985 Quarterly Journal of Economics paper, “Adam Smith and the Prisoners’ Dilemma [2],” as reprinted in my colleague Dan Klein’s superb 1997 collection, Reputation: Studies in the Voluntary Solicitation of Good Conduct [3]:
All of this, however, was known to Adam Smith and has probably been known to successful merchants from time immemorial. Where the market is broad and there are many alternatives, you had better cooperate. If you choose the noncooperative solution, you may find you have no one to noncooperate with.