ABSTRACT
The physiocrats naturally with their affection for the land and all that was connected with the production of food and raw materials laid it down that the only labour that could be classed as productive was the labour employed on the land, in the mine, and in fisheries: all other labour might be useful but it was unproductive. The physiocrats did not know that; their knowledge of science was very restricted. Thus they divided labour into two classes, productive and unproductive a very clear division. Adam Smith began considering these theories and saw that they were wrong. He realised that a man who manufactures raw materials, a man who takes raw wool or cotton and knows how to spin and weave and produce material, has produced value, in many cases great value. He worked it out so clearly that since his day nobody has attempted to say that manufacturing labour is not productive.
