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# Market for Surplus Produce

## Definition

The commercial exchange mechanism where rural producers sell their excess agricultural output to obtain manufactured goods they cannot efficiently produce themselves. This market relationship determines the scale of both agricultural specialization and urban manufacturing, as the quantity of finished work sold regulates the materials and provisions purchased by town inhabitants.

## Source Chapter

Book III, Chapter 1

## Context

Smith presents this market as the essential link between rural production and urban consumption, arguing that its extent directly determines the economic development of both town and country through the reciprocal benefits of division of labour.

## Economic Domain

Exchange

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