… is from page 210 of James Q. Wilson’s excellent 1993 book The Moral Sense:
Commercial life requires transactions – buying, selling, lending, borrowing – that are made easier by trust and a reputation for trustworthiness. To acquire that useful reputation, fair dealing is necessary, even with people of different clans. Industry progresses with the division of labor, a process that is facilitated by (and in turn reinforces) the view that each person should be judged on merit alone; that is, on the worth of his or her contribution to the collective effort.
