The matter of market failure

To talk in terms of externalities and public goods and incentives is to (excuse the expression) 'buy in' to the market model of transactions. 

Once we open the field of inquiry to include tradita as the way to transact in matters of craft and excellence for its own sake, and to include covenants as a way to honor matters of otherness; once we open the field of inquiry to include ritual and the consecrated spaces of religion and war, then to talk about the issue in terms of incentives makes it seem almost trivial. 

These matters of market failure touch on the deeper virtues that define and constitute the culture.