Leontief, Wassily (lē`ŏntēf), 1906–99, American economist, b. Russia, grad. Univ. of Berlin (Ph.D., 1928). The son of a Russian economist, he and his family left the Soviet Union in 1925 because of their opposition to the Bolshevik government. After serving as an adviser on railroad construction to the Chinese government (1929), he emigrated to the United States. He joined the faculty of Harvard in 1931, rising to the rank of professor in 1946. In 1975, he left Harvard to teach at New York Univ. Leontief is best known for his development of the input-output method of economic analysis, used by most industrialized nations for planning and predicting economic progress. He was awarded (1973) the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

Leontief, Wassily

(born Aug. 5, 1906, St. Petersburg, Russia—died Feb. 5, 1999, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. economist. After studying at the universities of Leningrad (1921–25) and Berlin (1925–28), he immigrated to the U.S. in 1931. At Harvard University (1931–75) he articulated his input-output analysis. He also described what is known as the Leontief Paradox: that capital, not labour, is the scarce factor of production in the U.S. He was awarded the 1973 Nobel Prize. From 1975 until his death he taught at New York University.