# Consumption as the End of Production ## Definition The principle that the ultimate purpose of all economic activity is to satisfy consumer wants and needs, with production serving merely as a means to this end. This fundamental concept inverts the mercantile system's focus on production and export, arguing that economic policy should prioritise consumer welfare over producer interests. ## Source Chapter Book IV, Chapter 8 ## Context Smith presents this principle as the key to understanding proper economic policy. He demonstrates how the mercantile system's sacrifice of consumer interests to producer interests represents a fundamental misunderstanding of economic purpose, leading to policies that reduce rather than increase national wealth. ## Economic Domain Consumption ---