Naïve versions of the "economy of deception" thesis fail because they cannot explain why anyone trades at all. If deception were total, markets would collapse — no one transacts twice with a known cheat. This dissertation therefore rejects the polemical claim ("capitalism is fraud") and replaces it with a structural one: deception and trust are *coupled*. Neither exists in a pure state. The interesting question is not *whether* economies deceive but *what governs the equilibrium ratio* between exploitation and trust, and *what happens when that ratio is disturbed*.