# Manufactures

## Definition

The sector of production in which raw materials are transformed into finished
goods through a series of distinct operations, each typically performed by
specialised workers. Smith contrasts manufactures with agriculture, noting that
the former admits of far greater subdivision of labour and separation of trades,
and therefore exhibits far greater improvements in productive power.

## Source Chapter

Book I, Chapter 1: "Of the Division of Labour"

## Context

Manufactures serve as the primary setting for Smith's analysis of the division
of labour. The pin factory is a manufacture; so are the linen, woollen, and
hardware trades he references. Smith uses the greater divisibility of
manufacturing work to explain why rich countries excel more conspicuously over
poor countries in manufactures than in agriculture.

## Economic Domain

Production