In every country the annual produce of land and labour naturally divides into three revenues—rent, w… — Adam Smith

In every country the annual produce of land and labour naturally divides into three revenues—rent, wages, and profit—belonging to three original orders (landlords, labourers, and those who live by profit), from whose incomes all other revenues in a civilized society are ultimately derived.

By Adam Smith, from La Richesse des nations

Key Arguments

Smith recalls that 'The whole annual produce of the land and labour of every country, or, what comes to the same thing, the whole price of that annual produce, naturally divides itself… into three parts; the rent of land, the wages of labour, and the profits of stock.'
These three parts 'constitutes a revenue to three different orders of people; to those who live by rent, to those who live by wages, and to those who live by profit.'
He labels them 'the three great, original, and constituent, orders of every civilized society, from whose revenue that of every other order is ultimately derived,' implying that all other social groups (e.g. churchmen, state officials) depend ultimately on these primary incomes.

Source Quotes

The contrary circumstances, the neglect of cultivation and improvement, the fall in the real price of any part of the rude produce of land, the rise in the real price of manufactures from the decay of manufacturing art and industry, the declension of the real wealth of the society, all tend, on the other hand, to lower the real rent of land, to reduce the real wealth of the landlord, to diminish his power of purchasing either the labour, or the produce of the labour, of other people. The whole annual produce of the land and labour of every country, or, what comes to the same thing, the whole price of that annual produce, naturally divides itself, it has already been observed, into three parts; the rent of land, the wages of labour, and the profits of stock; and constitutes a revenue to three different orders of people; to those who live by rent, to those who live by wages, and to those who live by profit. These are the three great, original, and constituent, orders of every civilized society, from whose revenue that of every other order is ultimately derived.

The whole annual produce of the land and labour of every country, or, what comes to the same thing, the whole price of that annual produce, naturally divides itself, it has already been observed, into three parts; the rent of land, the wages of labour, and the profits of stock; and constitutes a revenue to three different orders of people; to those who live by rent, to those who live by wages, and to those who live by profit. These are the three great, original, and constituent, orders of every civilized society, from whose revenue that of every other order is ultimately derived. The interest of the first of those three great orders, it appears from what has been just now said, is strictly and inseparably connected with the general interest of the society.

Key Concepts

The whole annual produce of the land and labour of every country, or, what comes to the same thing, the whole price of that annual produce, naturally divides itself, it has already been observed, into three parts; the rent of land, the wages of labour, and the profits of stock;
and constitutes a revenue to three different orders of people; to those who live by rent, to those who live by wages, and to those who live by profit.
These are the three great, original, and constituent, orders of every civilized society, from whose revenue that of every other order is ultimately derived.

Context

Mid‑passage in the conclusion, where Smith briefly recapitulates his fundamental tripartite division of income as the basis for assessing how each order’s interests relate to the general interest of society.