Human tendencies to form social bonds, to show reluctance to change, and to be vocal about changes in the economic world are not imperfections but rather strengths in a market system. It is not a weakness to show loyalty, to be considerate in making change, or to provide information to the social process. Hirschman provides the basis for a powerful argument for the efficiency benefits that accrue to the society that encourages loyalties to producers and products, and voice in the face of change. Anyone who has ever worked with American customers in a retail setting, as a salesclerk at the local Sears or J. C. Penney Company, for example, can readily grasp Hirschman's insight. If product quality slips, or the product is not what the customer expected it to be, American customers do not silently switch brands.
American customers take the product back, pound their fists on the counter, and demand satisfaction.
The customer's expressed outrage, he calls voice. Firms in the real world do not go into and out of business costlessly, and the collapse of a firm almost always involves personal tragedies. People suffer the psychological trauma of unemployment and the search costs of looking for a new job, and the standard of living declines for all. Loyalty and voice are the whips that crack over firms in a market economy. Self-interest can only be sustained when the gains from production and trade fall to those who produced and traded.