A man’s credit, born out of the public’s belief in him, is for him a great means of action, as for the public, a great security, real or apparent. And the economists are right to speak of credit. But a man’s financial credit, the only one with which they concern themselves, is not the only one to be concerned about. The confidence that a citizen arouses, as man of state, as general, as scientist, as artist, is a moral credit, important in an altogether other way than the confidence of a few bankers in his solvency.
Gabriel Tarde, Economic Psychology (1902)
