# Funds for Maintaining Productive Labour ## Definition The capital and revenue sources that employ productive hands whose labour adds value to materials. These funds are much greater in rich countries and bear a much greater proportion to those likely to be employed in maintaining idleness, determining the general character of inhabitants as industrious or idle. ## Source Chapter Book II, Chapter 3 ## Context Smith argues that the proportion between these funds and those for maintaining unproductive hands determines whether a country tends toward industry or idleness, with rich countries having larger proportions of productive labour. ## Economic Domain Production ---