Wassily Leontief

This work comprises the major papers of this extraordinary Nobel Laureate in economics. The common concern of the papers included in this volume is economic theory, its structure, uses, and abuses. As the late Harry G. Johnson said: "No one reading this volume can fail to be struck by the depth of scholarship Professor Leontief is capable of deploying and the profundity of his understanding of methodological problems of economic theory, and his critique of the work of other economists."

This is a collection of papers dedicated to Leonid Kantorovich and his work. Kantorovich was a Russian mathematician and economist who published in the three areas covered in this book: functional analysis, optimization, and mathematical economics. Kantorovich is credited as being amongst the first inventors of linear programming, the primary technique of optimization. Linear programming consists of creating a matrix of parameters relevant to a system and maximizing the unknown variables using those constraints. Kantorovich then applied this theory to optimal macroeconomic planning in a socialist economy, for which he received the Nobel prize. The present book is dedicated to the memory of Kantorovich, who died in 1986, but is more than a Festschrift. It contains original contributions from several researchers in the USSR never before seen in the US, which enhances the value of the volume. It is organized in a logical sequence from the mathematics to the applications of the theories to concrete problems.

While the computer revolution has created hundreds of thousands of new jobs, it has threatened as many other jobs with obsolescence and has often caused the displacement of workers by computer-based machines. Here, Nobel Prize-winning economist Wassily Leontief and Faye Duchin use the input-output approach, a method that has been widely applied in examining structural economic change, to analyze the complex issues surrounding the impact of computer-driven automation on employment. Following a general discussion of the impact of automation on employment, they focus on four specific sectors within the economy--manufacturing, office work, education, and health care. The input-output approach makes it possible to draw conclusions regarding both overall employment and the prospects for individual occupations. Taking account of the increased need for workers in the production of computer-based equipment, the authors conclude that by the year 2000 automation will not cause dramatic unemployment if the economy is able to achieve a smooth transition from the old to new technologies.

This work comprises the major papers of this extraordinary Nobel Laureate in economics. The common concern of the papers included in this volume is economic theory, its structure, uses, and abuses. As the late Harry G. Johnson said: "No one reading this volume can fail to be struck by the depth of scholarship Professor Leontief is capable of deploying and the profundity of his understanding of methodological problems of economic theory, and his critique of the work of other economists."