Service (business)

The historical perspective in the late-eighteen and early-nineteenth centuries focused on creation and possession of wealth.

Classical economists contended that goods were objects of value over which ownership rights could be established and exchanged.

Adam Smith’s book The Wealth of Nations, published in Great Britain in 1776, distinguished between the outputs of what he termed "productive" and "unproductive" labor.

The former, he stated, produced goods that could be stored after production and subsequently exchanged for money or other items of value.

The latter, however useful or necessary, created services that perished at the time of production and therefore did not contribute to wealth.