Of course, the practice of these virtues also reaps long-run rewards in a less free society such as our own—but only after many unnecessary struggles and frustrations for those who practice them.

As individuals learn to act more responsibly and to practice these virtues, their living standards steadily improve. Moreover, in the free market virtuous actions generally lead to clearly positive results, especially in the prevailing conditions of general prosperity. Consequently, the experiences of individuals help them to acquire confidence in their ability to deal with the world—in short, a sense of personal efficacy (cf. p. 3.11:1). The widespread, growing sense of personal responsibility and efficacy contributes to and reinforces the popular understanding of individualist principles posited at the start of this analysis.      Next page


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