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# Productive Expenses

## Definition

Those expenses which, over and above replacing their own value, occasion the annual reproduction of neat produce, including both the ground expenses of landlords and the original and annual expenses of farmers in agricultural systems.

## Source Chapter

Book IV, Chapter 9

## Context

Smith describes how agricultural systems designate certain expenses as "productive" because they generate surplus value beyond simple replacement, contrasting this with expenses on artificers and manufacturers which are considered barren and unproductive.

## Economic Domain

Production

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