Consumption of a good, through which another economic good is created, is productive consumption. The destructive consumption of a sensitive being puts an end to a good in its original form, yet the act of consumption is done according to a specific requirement in a want, and so it is an act of a producer after all. No good is just by itself as it is always connected to some other goods in the system of wants; thus in the goods nexus, need drives to a good, then to a new need and a good again time after time. So consumption of a good is simultaneously creation of a good, and production of a good concurrently is consumption nonetheless. The consumer is also a producer and as such reviles the realm of any entrepreneur.
Historical Backdrop
• FRANCOIS QUESNAY Economic Table; General Maxims of the Economical Government in an Agricultural Kingdom: non-productive and productive expenditure.
• ADAM SMITH The Wealth of Nations: non-productive and productive consumption.
• JEAN BAPTISTE SAY A Treatise on Political Economy: consumption.
• JOHN STUART MILL Principles of Political Economy: production.
• KARL MARX The Capital: productive consumption. Introduction to a Critique of Political Economy in The Economic Manuscripts of 1857-1858: identity of consumption and production.
• JOHN BATES CLARK The Philosophy of Wealth: the production of wealth in unproductive consumption.