Noemi’s Reviews > Ill Fares the Land > Status Update

it is in the nature of economic competition that a participant who breaks the rules will triumph—at least in the short run—over more ethically sensitive competitors.

But capitalism could not survive such cynical behavior for very long.

So why has this potentially self-destructive system of economic arrangements lasted?

Probably because of habits of restraint, honesty and moderation which accompanied its emergence.