MEMORANDUM

Leontief. He wrote to Irving Fisher to express his interest in becoming a member and
convey his regrets that he was unable to attend. Leontief noted that Ezekiel was also
invited and unable to attend.
At the end of 1930 economic prospects had changed also in USA, including for the
institutions Leontief had applied to. He never got any response from the Giannini
Foundation. Ayres responded that their research work was more likely to contract than
expand; no further commitments could be made. Ayres at Cleveland Trust went out of his
way, however, to offer constructive advice, explaining that owing to the severe business
depression the USA was experiencing a considerable number of industrial and financial
institutions had been releasing research workers of unquestioned ability: “Their difficulty
in making new connections leads me to believe that you would find your efforts more
fruitful if they were directed toward making a connection with some of what he called the
“subsidized” research institutions in this country.” 135 Ayres pointed particularly to NBER
and Brooking Institution but mentioned also the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the
US Department of Agriculture and the Federal Farm Board. The prices with which the
latter two were concerned were naturally agricultural prices. He passed on to Leontief also
that there had been a recent reorganization in the Department of Commerce which
contemplated more thoroughgoing analyses of industrial commodity prices, although Ayres
didn’t really know much about it. In Ayres’ view expressed his belief that Leontief’s best
opportunity lay with the subsidized institutions he had mentioned.
Both Brookings Institution and NBER were well endowed institutions, both
benefitting from Rockefeller Foundation grants in addition to other funds. And Ayres was
right, they had something to offer. Nourse of Brookings Institutions responded to Leontief
that, “it would be a cause of great gratification to me if we could be the means of
facilitating your spending some time in research work in the United States.” 136
Nourse offered two options. One was a regular staff appointment at the Institute of
Economics, directed by Nourse; the other a fellowship under the Training Division.
Fellowships were granted for an academic year of nine months, offered complete freedom
to pursue whatever line of work the applicant was most interested in, and came with a
small stipend “just about sufficient to defray your expenses”. For a staff appointment the
key issue was the project, as it had to fit into the research program of the Institute of
Economics. Nourse thus invited more information from Leontief as to what he was
interested in, including the range of salary he would consider appropriate in connection
with a staff appointment. The fellowship stipend was small but better than nothing. It
would provide a chance to visit USA, get acquainted with institutions and people. Leontief
decided to apply for the fellowship and pursue possibilities at NBER as well.
135 Ayres to Leontief, 2 December 1930.
136 Nourse to Leontief, 28 November 1930.
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