210,809 profiles ranked

Wassily Leontief

Russian economist (1906-1999) · Germany · Academics · Died at 92

Wassily Leontief is read about 186 times a day, in 64 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 16 September 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 361 days, one point a day.

Something wrong?
Compare

He mapped the economy as a system of gears - steel needs coal, coal needs transport, transport needs steel - and won a Nobel for showing how a shift in one sector ripples through all the others.

AcademicsAcademicEconomics20th Century

A life in dates

1999Died5 February 19991996“Among the many factors that have promoted economic change, I believe that technology or, rather, change in technology is the most prominent.”In their wordsLeontief, quoted in: Carter, A.P. (1996), "Technology, Employment and the Distribution of Income: Leontief af 90," Economic Systems

1983“Computers and robots replace humans in the exercise of mental functions in the same way as mechanical power replaced them in the performance of physical tasks.”In their wordsLeontief (1983) "National perspective: The definition of problem and opportunity", in: National Academies, The Long-term Impact of

1980Honorary Doctor of the University of ToulouseAward1973Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred NobelAward1971“Economics today rides the crest of intellectual respectability and popular acclaim.”In their wordsp. 1: Start of lead paragraph

“By the time it comes to interpretation of the substantive conclusions, the assumptions on which the model has been based are easily forgotten.”In their wordsp. 3.

Honorary Doctor of the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-SorbonneAward1970Bernhard Harms PrizeAward1953Josiah Willard Gibbs LectureshipAward1940Guggenheim FellowshipAward1939Fellow of the Econometric SocietyAward1919“The general, and at the same time dynamic, type of analysis still remains an unwritten chapter of economic theory, the claims of innumerable “model-builders” notwithstanding...”In their wordsp. 33, as cited in: Drejer, Ina. "The Role of Technological Linkages in a Leontief Scheme-From Static Structures to Endogenous Evolution of

“The total number of multiplications involved in the practical solution of our problem exceeds 450,000. This task alone would mean a two-year job, at 120 multiplications per hour.”In their wordsp. 74.

1906Born5 August 1906

Also in Deutsch

Photos 4

Wassily Leontief 1973Wassily Leontief 1973LeontiefLeontiefWassily Leontief close-up (cropped)Wassily Leontief close-up (cropped)Wassily Leontief's houseWassily Leontief's house

In their own words 9

,
Wassily Leontief
,
9 statements, newest first

  1. Among the many factors that have promoted economic change, I believe that technology or, rather, change in technology is the most prominent.

    1996, Leontief, quoted in: Carter, A.P. (1996), "Technology, Employment and the Distribution of Income: Leontief af 90," Economic Systems, Own words

  2. Computers and robots replace humans in the exercise of mental functions in the same way as mechanical power replaced them in the performance of physical tasks.

    1983, Leontief (1983) "National perspective: The definition of problem and opportunity", in: National Academies, The Long-term Impact of, Own words

  3. Economics today rides the crest of intellectual respectability and popular acclaim.

    1971, p. 1: Start of lead paragraph, Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Awards

Honorary Doctor of the University of Toulouse1980
Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel1973
Honorary Doctor of the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne1971
Bernhard Harms Prize1970
Josiah Willard Gibbs Lectureship1953
Guggenheim Fellowship1940
Fellow of the Econometric Society1939
Officer of the Legion of Honour
Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association
Fellow of the American Statistical Association

Family

Wassily Leontief

Partners

Is this everyone?

Only relatives with a profile here are drawn, so a family can be larger than this. A line here can also be wrong.

Correct this family

About this person

Born in Russia in 1905, Leontief left the Soviet Union and landed in America, where he built input-output analysis: a method for tracking how industries depend on each other and how a change in one sends waves through the rest. The work earned him the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1973. Four of his doctoral students later won the same prize - Paul Samuelson in 1970, Robert Solow in 1987, Vernon L. Smith in 2002, Thomas Schelling in 2005. He died in February 1999.

Country
Germany
Category
Academics
Type
Academic
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1906 to 1999 · aged 92

In common with Wassily

Simon KuznetsBoth received Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred NobelGary S. BeckerBoth received Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred NobelRaghuram RajanBoth received Bernhard Harms PrizeRobert MundellBoth received Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred NobelJames MeadeBoth received Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred NobelStanley FischerBoth received Bernhard Harms Prize

Fame.am measures public visibility signals. It does not measure human value, talent, morality, or credibility.