Classical and neoclassical economics have largely concerned themselves with flows of money and the principles by which they are to be generated and controlled. Of course flows of labor, matter, and energy must accompany the flow of money, but money has come to be viewed as the universal common denominator which 'measures' the values of the various inputs and outputs to the economic process. The most obvious property of money is that if you get possession of it, by whatever means, you can use it to lay immediate claim to economic output. A theory of how claims against economic output are to be established is not the same thing as a theory of how human prosperity is actually created. In this book an attempt is made to think about economic production in non-monetary terms. I propose that there are three required inputs for economic production: 1. A reservoir of energy which may be loosely defined as the potential to transform matter. 2. A reservoir of matter of sufficient quantity and variety to act as a substrate for the desired transformations. 3. A reservoir of intelligence capable of directing the transformations to achieve the desired results. I attempt to show, economic productivity can be understood only by considering the synergistic use of all three of these required resource inputs rather than by considering the use of energy input alone as certain thinkers about economic production have seemed to imply. I should point out here that by the word 'intelligence' I do not mean human intelligence alone. There are many essential transformations of matter which are carried out by non-human life forms, the most obvious of these being the ability of plants to transform carbon dioxide, water, nitrogen, and various nutrients into animal food and oxygen. If the ability of plants to perform these transformations is damaged by human activity (e.g. by global warming, chemical pollution, habitat destruction, etc.) then our great technological prowess may not be able to save us from disastrous consequences. Some people may object to use of the world 'intelligence' with respect to the transformations of matter carried out by non-human organisms. If you are one of these people then you can substitute the words 'biological productivity' for intelligence and include it as the 4th required input for economic production. A free PDF of this book may be downloaded at: https://energyevolutionjournal.com/