First published in 1990, this is an analysis of the history of western economics from Petty to Supply-Side, through the prism of the controversies over productive labour and its product. It treats the early economists¿ "productive-unproductive" dichotomies as shorthands for many other sets of distinctions relevant for boundaries, value and welfare. The book maps the shifting emphases that economists and social thinkers have placed on markets and `mode¿ of production generally. This reissue will be useful to students of economic thought, welfare theory and policy, growth economics and economic systems.