Which economist won the 1973 Nobel Prize in Economics for developing the input-output method?

Wassily Leontief won the 1973 Nobel Prize in Economics for developing the input-output method and applying it to important economic problems. The method maps how industries buy from and sell to one another.

An input-output table records the inputs required by each sector to produce its output. For example, it can show how much energy, steel, transport, or agriculture a manufacturing sector uses, and how its products become inputs elsewhere. This makes the structure of an entire economy easier to analyze.

Leontief’s approach became important in national planning, forecasting, and policy analysis. It can be used to estimate how a change in final demand may affect production, employment, and resource use across connected industries.

The method is often associated only with accounting tables, but Leontief developed mathematical tools for analyzing those tables. He was born in Russia, later worked in the United States, and spent much of his academic career at Harvard University and New York University.