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… is from page 558 of the final (2016) volume – Bourgeois Equality [2] – of Deirdre McCloskey [3]’s soaring trilogy on the essence of bourgeois values, on their transmission, and on their essential role in modern life:
True, trading tends to be prudent, and on that count, if not on all counts, tends to be radically egalitarian in the matter of whom one deals with. A beggar’s dollar commands as much bread as a millionaire’s. In contrast to allocation by beauty or social class or party membership or racial preference or bureaucratic edict, the baker doesn’t care to whom he sells the loaf.