Trust and policing are complementary, each insufficient alone

Evidence

Trust, therefore, need not carry the whole burden of cooperation (otherwise, it would fail in Oslo as in Naples). But neither is policing sufficient by itself. Policing relies on the existence of sufficient trust so that drivers need not feel obliged to monitor every call they lose, and enough demand to keep them busy, profitably diverting them from the temptation to spy on their colleagues. Otherwise, long before they poured all their time and gasoline into policing one another, cooperation—that is, the radio service—would collapse. Monitoring can be crucial, nonetheless. Dishonest drivers, whatever the constraints, are still likely to try to slip one over on their colleagues. Spot-checking helps to minimize cheating and preserve the confidence of other drivers in the value of cooperation. — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 599

Categorization

• XREF: Mirrors the Milgrom/private-judge model: formal enforcement presupposes baseline reputation or the system collapses under monitoring costs.