He was convinced that growth depended on increasing the relative share of ‘manufactures’–factories employing formerly independent artisans or agricultural workers as dependent wage labourers–in the overall make-up of industry and believed that free trade was essential to bring this about. He felt that the enemies of growth were, first, the protectionist policies of mercantilists; second, the guilds protecting artisans’ privileges; and third, a nobility that squandered its money on unproductive labour and lavish consumption.
