Reputation and shame, not force, enforced economic obligations in Nima.

Evidence

Clearly force was far from centralized; but systematic use of violence to enforce payment was relatively rare in Nima, as I have already indicated. Criminals used force in their relations with each other and with the police but not normally on the local public, from whom they expected and received a considerable measure of communal support. Reputation, name, honour, the macho complex offered much more scope for creditors and rentiers hoping to shame their clients into payment. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 2386

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels Hardin’s argument that trust requires observable constraints — here reputation-based shaming substitutes for legal force.
• QUESTION: What made criminals restrain force against the local public? The communal-support dynamic deserves investigation.