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Agricultural System
A nation’s annual produce is the total amount of goods and services that all of its inhabitants generate in a year.
Annual Produce Quotes in The Wealth of Nations
The The Wealth of Nations quotes below are all either spoken by Annual Produce or refer to Annual Produce. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Book 1, Chapter 6
Quotes
As the price or exchangeable value of every particular commodity, taken separately, resolves itself into some one or other, or all of those three parts [wages, profits, and rent]; so that of all the commodities which compose the whole annual produce of the labour of every country, taken complexly, must resolve itself into the same three parts, and be parcelled out among different inhabitants of the country, either as the wages of their labour, the profits of their stock, or the rent of their land. The whole of what is annually either collected or produced by the labour of every society, or, what comes to the same thing, the whole price of it, is in this manner originally distributed among some of its different members. Wages, profit, and rent, are the three original sources of all revenue, as well as of all exchangeable value. All other revenue is ultimately derived from some one or other of these.
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Book 1, Chapter 11
Quotes
In the course of a century or two, it is possible that new mines may be discovered, more fertile than any that have ever yet been known; and it is just equally possible, that the most fertile mine then known may be more barren than any that was wrought before the discovery of the mines of America. Whether the one or the other of those two events may happen to take place, is of very little importance to the real wealth and prosperity of the world, to the real value of the annual produce of the land and labour of mankind. Its nominal value, the quantity of gold and silver by which this annual produce could be expressed or represented, would, no doubt, be very different; but its real value, the real quantity of labour which it could purchase or command, would be precisely the same.
Book 2, Chapter 2
Quotes
It is not by augmenting the capital of the country, but by rendering a greater part of that capital active and productive than would otherwise be so, that the most judicious operations of banking can increase the industry of the country. [...] The gold and silver money which circulates in any country, and by means of which, the produce of its land and labour is annually circulated and distributed to the proper consumers, is, in the same manner as the ready money of the dealer, all dead stock. It is a very valuable part of the capital of the country, which produces nothing to the country. The judicious operations of banking, by substituting paper in the room of a great part of this gold and silver, enable the country to convert a great part of this dead stock into active and productive stock; into stock which produces something to the country.
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Annual Produce Term Timeline in The Wealth of Nations
The timeline below shows where the term Annual Produce appears in The Wealth of Nations. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 1, Chapter 11
The value of a country’s annual produce gets divided into rent, wages, and profit, which respectively go to landlords, workers, and employers....
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Book 2, Chapter 3
...a country’s laborers are productive, the more it will produce in the future. Indeed, its annual produce must maintain all its laborers, both productive and unproductive. One part of this produce goes...
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...invest. This enables them to employ more productive labor and increases the value of their annual produce . Rich people may spend some of their revenue on productive labor, but frugal people...
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Increasing a nation’s annual produce requires additional capital stock. Nearly all countries steadily increase their capital stocks and revenues during...
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Book 2, Chapter 5
...can command different quantities of labor and add different amounts of value to a nation’s annual produce . It can be used in four main ways: furnishing society with rude produce, manufacturing...
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...But farmers put even more capital into motion and add even more to the nation’s annual produce than manufacturing does. Farming involves working with nature to create rude produce, and it generally...
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...specific geographical locations. While wholesalers’ capital can go anywhere, it doesn’t much affect a country’s annual produce . Manufacturers’ capital goes into their production facilities, which they can choose where to locate....
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Different kinds of wholesale trade also employ productive labor and add to the annual produce to different extents. Rather than sending their ships or vehicles home empty-handed, wholesalers generally trade...
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Book 4, Chapter 7
...and productivity in order to increase the rents they can charge, their share of the annual produce , and demand for their goods. Yet the companies’ officers are short-sighted merchants, so they...
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Book 5, Chapter 2
...of lower rents. In manufacturing, such taxes deter hiring, harm industry, and reduce the nation’s annual produce . Yet countries like France and Bohemia still assess them. Taxing government workers is a...
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