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Leontief
Prize for Advancing
the Frontiers of Economic Thought
The
Leontief Prize, in memory of Wassily Leontief, is designed
to recognize outstanding contributions to economic theory
that address contemporary realities and support just
and sustainable societies. Since establishing the Leontief Prize in 2000, GDAE has awarded the prize to numerous distinguished economists including Amartya Sen, John Kenneth Galbraith, and Herman E. Daly. To learn more about our recipients, the events, and some of their lectures, please follow the links below.
The 2013 recipients were Albert O. Hirschman and Frances Stewart. Read more about the 2013 Leontief Award Ceremony, which took place on
March 7, 2013 at Tufts University.
Previous Leontief Award Recipients
2000 - Amartya Sen and John Kenneth Galbraith
2001 - Herman E. Daly and Paul P. Streeten
2002 - Alice Amsden and Dani Rodrik
2004 - Robert Frank and Nancy Folbre
2005 - Ha-Joon Chang and Richard R. Nelson
2006 - Juliet Schor and Samuel Bowles
2007 - Stephen DeCanio and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
2008 - José Antonio Ocampo and Robert Wade
2010 - Bina Agarwal and Daniel Kahneman
2011 - Nicholas Stern and Martin Weitzman
2012 - Michael Lipton and C. Peter Timmer
2013 - Albert O. Hirschman and Frances Stewart
The Global Development
And Environment Institute established the Leontief Prize
in memory of Wassily Leontief, our friend and, from
1993 until his much regretted death in 1999, a member
of our external advisory board. It is designed to recognize
outstanding
contributions to economic theory
that address contemporary realities
and support just and sustainable societies.
 Wassily Leontief
is best known for the single, powerful methodological
advance which earned him a Nobel Prize in 1973: the
invention of input-output analysis. In talking with
Wassily, and in reading his work, it was always clear
that he perceived his special contribution within an
even larger framework.
He was deeply
concerned that economics maintain a proper balance between
theoretical and empirical analysis. He cared a lot about
facts -- the visible wrinkles on the otherwise invisible
fabric of Truth. He had no patience for beautiful abstractions
without application: his lifetime work was based on
an unwavering assumption, that the purpose of economics
is to be useful. Being useful meant making it possible
for human beings to interact with the physical world
in ways that would better the human condition.
Leontief's most
concrete influence on the Global Development And Environment
Institute grew out of his ongoing relationship with
his natal Russia. He encouraged us to develop an introductory
economics textbook for that country, whose history has
in no way prepared it to use simple translations of
U.S. economics texts. With Wassily's encouragement we
worked with Russian economists, as well as with Kelvin
Lancaster and Thomas Weisskopf in the U.S., to provide
an introduction to market economics that takes account
of Russia's reality. The resulting textbook was published
in Russia in 2002, and has been revised for use in other
countries as well.
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