<!-- generated: provider=openrouter model=arcee-ai/trinity-large-preview:free date=2026-02-19 source=book-2-chapter-04 -->

# Productive Labourers

## Definition

Workers who produce goods or services that have exchange value and can be stored or accumulated as capital. Their labour creates value that can be exchanged for other goods or services, and they are maintained by capital employed in productive enterprises.

## Source Chapter

Book II, Chapter 4

## Context

Smith contrasts productive labourers with idle consumers, explaining that when borrowed capital is used productively, it maintains workers who reproduce the value of the capital with profit. This distinction is crucial for understanding when lending arrangements are economically beneficial versus when they lead to capital dissipation.

## Economic Domain

Production

---
