MEMORANDUM

letter was returned after two days with a handwritten annotation by the Dean that the
request had been denied, followed by an official letter of 12 November 1927 in which Dean
Bieberbach regretted that Leontief’s request to be allowed to take doctoral exam had been
denied as Leontief had only studied five semesters, instead of the required minimum of six.
Professor Karl Stählin who had been fully informed by Leontief (or perhaps more
likely by Leontief Sr.) that the request had been rejected, wrote to the Dean on 14
November, recommending Leontief warmly, arguing that he ought to be granted one
semester for the seven or eight he had studied in Petrograd. Stählin also used the offer
from Harms for what it was worth and referred to his close friendship with Leontief’s
parents. He appealed to the Dean: “If anything can be done in his favor in this matter, I
should be extraordinary happy for this highly gifted and industrious young man.”
Also Professor Kurt Breysig wrote in support of Leontief’s request one week later and
begged to the Dean to find a way help Leontief as Breysig’s judgment – as that of Sombart
– was that Leontief was an extraordinarily capable person. Also Breysig mentioned the
Russian exam and the offer from Harms as reasons for granting the request. Breysig even
added that with the delay imposed on Leontief by denying the request put at risk not only
the post in Kiel but in part also his future. Dean Bieberbach reacted to these appeals and,
indeed quickly, by forwarding Leontief’s request to the Ministry on 3 December and ask
for it to be granted.
As the deadline for registration for the doctoral exam expired on 10 December
Leontief could not afford to wait for the Ministry decision as that might take a month or so.
He decided to submit his formal request to be allowed admission to the Doktorprüfung by
the deadline. In the letter of 9 December he asked to be examined in economics as major
and in history and philosophy as minors, enclosing the dissertation Wirtschaft als Kreislauf,
and a brief cv (Lebenslauf).
Leontief’s dissertation which was published in a well-known German economic
journal. In our view the dissertation was of little importance in determining the specific
route along which Leontief arrived at the input-output formulation, without denying its
significance in the formation of Leontief’s overall conception of economic science.
Insightful comments on the dissertation can be found e.g. in Lager (2009) and Kurtz and
Salvadori (1995, 2006).
The Ministry responded to the Dean on 14 December that it was not inclined to
approve Leontief’s request, pointing out that Leningrad studies could not be considered
equivalent to German university studies and hence could not be counted. Hence, in order
to avoid establishing a precedent the Ministry requested from the Faculty as soon as
possible its opinion as to whether the accomplishments of the applicant (i.e. Leontief) were
so superior that his admission to the doctoral exam would not permit doubts. The Ministry
also asked for the evaluation reports of Leontief’s dissertation. Dean Bieberbach
33