What we can say confidently is that the kind of costs incurred by the LM system are inevitable if Honest trade is to be sustained in the face of self-interested behavior and that the system seems well designed to keep those costs as low as possible.

DEFINE: Defines the LM system as a mechanism that minimizes but cannot eliminate the costs inherent to sustaining honest trade among self-interested parties.

PAUL R. MILGRO, PAUL R. MILGRO - THE ROLE O…, loc. 137