This understanding of honour —the sense in which the term is used in such phrases as 'honouring one's bond' — is, of course, a crucial component of trust. As Genovesi said, onore e virtu (honour and virtue), in the absence of any effective coercive mechanism, can be the only guarantors of a debtor's reliability. But, as we shall see, no virtue is possible in a society of honour understood in the first sense.

XREF: Connects to broader themes of trust, reputation, and social capital as informal enforcement mechanisms in economic contexts.

Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking…, loc. 1790