The argument points out that if an employer reacts to poor business conditions by reducing pay for all workers, then the best workers, with the best employment alternatives at other firms, are the most likely to leave and the least-attractive workers, with fewer employment alternatives, are more likely to stay.

If morality represents the way we would like the world to work and economics represents how it actually does work, then the story of feldman’s bagel business lies at the very intersection of morality and economics. yes, a lot of people steal from him, but the vast majority, even though no is watching over them, do not. this outcome may surprise some people—including feldman’s economist friends, who counseled him twenty years ago that his honor-system scheme would never work. but it would not have surprised adam smith. in fact, theme of smith’s first book, the theory of moral sentiments, was the innate honesty of mankind. “how selfish soever man may be supposed,” smith wrote, “there are evidently some principles in his nature which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.” which best describes the authors’ purpose in using a quotation from adam smith’s book the theory of moral sentiments? to highlight their knowledge of scottish philosophers to prove that people are inherently dishonest to demonstrate that incentive is the driving force behind cheating to lend credibility and additional support to their conclusion