It is true that mankind are, for the most part, excited to productive
industry solely by the desire of subsequently consuming the result of
their labour and accumulation. The consumption called unproductive,
viz., that of which the direct result is enjoyment, is in reality the
end, to which production is only the means; and a desire for the end,
is what alone impels any one to have recourse to the means.

But, notwithstanding this, it is of the greatest importance to mark the
distinction between the labour and the consumption which have enjoyment
for their immediate end, and the labour and the consumption of which the
immediate end is reproduction. Though the sight of the former may still
further stimulate that desire for the enjoyments afforded by wealth,
which the mere knowledge, without the immediate view, would suffice to
excite (and without dwelling on the consideration that if the example
of a large expenditure excites one individual to accumulation, it
encourages two to prodigal expense); still, if we look only to the
effects which are intended, or to those which immediately follow from
the consumption, and whose connexion with it can be distinctly traced,
it evidently renders a country poorer in the permanent sources of
enjoyment; while reproductive consumption leaves the country richer in
these same sources. Besides, if what is spent for mere pleasure promotes
indirectly the increase of wealth, it can only be by inducing others
_not_ to expend on mere pleasure.

Before quitting the subject, one more observation should be added. It
must not be supposed that what is expended upon unproductive labourers
is necessarily, the whole of it, unproductively consumed. The
unproductive labourers may save part of their wages, and invest them in
a productive employment.