Smith on Productive and Non-Productive Workers

In the Wealth of Nations Smith spends a lot of time on the value(s) of labor. He makes a couple of interesting points. For example, he divides the world into productive and non-productive workers. In the former are people who use capital stock or the rents of land in their activity. In the latter are those who do not. He specifically includes lawyers, priests, opera singers and a raft of others of similar occupations.

One wonders about a couple of things. First, in today's world where the production of opera singers, for example, can be made into a tangible product, would they still be considered to be non-producitve? Similarly, would artificers who create ideas be considered productive or non-productive? One wonders how Smith might think about the increasing role of the service economy.

He has clearer statements about government workers. He describes their work in fairly stark terms - for example he describes the "violent and forcible extraction" of tax revenues. He goes on to suggest that nothing government does adds to the productive capacity of the nation. Indeed, at one point he posits that if the profligacy of government does not bankrupt a nation there is little that the role of private citizens can do to do it.