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# Rural Urban Reciprocity

## Definition

The mutual economic dependency between rural and urban areas where each serves the other's needs through specialized production and exchange. This reciprocity creates balanced benefits from the division of labour, with neither party losing from the commercial relationship but both gaining through specialization and market exchange.

## Source Chapter

Book III, Chapter 1

## Context

Smith emphasizes this reciprocal relationship to demonstrate how commercial exchange creates net gains for all participants, countering mercantilist ideas about trade as a zero-sum game and showing how the division of labour benefits both town and country equally.

## Economic Domain

Exchange

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