On Courage, Trust, and Intangible Incentives

The author develops an expositional treatise on the theory of courage, arguing that an act of courage can be typified as one if it meets the necessary but insufficient condition of being characterized as an act that engenders a positive externality for society. He further goes on to posit that courage is an inferior good, and any monetary incentivization of courage will engender a tradeoff between trust and courage in a society. Finally, the author considers the possibility of providing intangible incentive structures that do not lend themselves to the same criticisms, and can help a society attain optimal levels of courage