Keeping Company with Seabright

Abstract

According to Paul Seabright, �the unplanned but sophisticated coordination of modern economies is a remarkable fact that needs an explanation.� In this paper, I explore what is remarkable about modern economies and investigate what Seabright identifies as the aspect �that needs an explanation.� Essentially, Seabright is interested in the fact that modern economies require a great deal in the way of trustworthy behavior (and trust) in order to function well�and these trust relations must operate specifically among �strangers�! The puzzle for him is how relations of trust (and trustworthiness) among strangers could conceivably have arisen from our tribal evolutionary past. I raise several queries about his diagnosis of this puzzle and of his answer to it.