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.

Find more information on Leontief, Wassily. Upgrade to Britannica Online for more on Leontief, Wassily.