MEMORANDUM

Leontief spoke to an audience at Harvard and it became a busy day. In addition to the
seminar he also gave two lectures in an undergraduate course on demand and supply
elasticities, and a dinner speech at the end of the day.
During the dinner Leontief got to know that Schumpeter would move permanently to
Harvard. One month later Schumpeter confirmed it and also that he would arrive in
September. He was delighted at the prospects of having Leontief as a colleague. Leontief
was even more delighted: “The possibilities are so open and the prospects so great that I
cannot yet fully believe that this is really so.” 198
* * *
In the summer of 1932 Leontief left for Europe on 29 June and returned after one
month after having spent much of the time in Austria with his parents. In 1931 Leontief
had met Estelle Helen Marks in New York. She worked as a piano teacher at the time and
was raised in a family with socialist leanings. Leontief once referred to his father-in-law, a
lawyer, as “an old-time Debs Socialist.” Leontief surely wanted to tell his parents that they
intended to marry later that year, which they did in December 1932. 199 Shortly after his
return from Europe he was a faculty member at Harvard.
* * *
An early initiative by Schumpeter at Harvard was to propose a course in mathematical
economics. Schumpeter offered to teach such a course himself, at least to get it started. He
channeled it through Crum for approval. Crum took it up with Burbank who was very
responsive to Schumpeter’s suggestion. A committee was appointed to provide a concrete
proposal for a course; it comprised H. H. Burbank, E. H. Chamberlin, W. L. Crum, E. S.
Mason, J. A. Schumpeter, and F. W. Taussig.
The committee agreed that the course was not meant for the advanced student who
was interested in the mathematical aspects of economics and already had some
mathematical training, but rather for the wider circle of less advanced students and their
need to master the fundamental concepts of mathematics necessary to understand, e.g.
Marshall’s Appendix and important parts of mathematical economics, such as the works of
198 Leontief to Schumpeter, 15 April 1932, transl. by ob.
199 A birth certificate was issued by on October 5, 1932 by Standesamt der Landshauptstadt
München showing that Leontief was born on 5 August 1905 in Munich. It must have been
requested by Leontief or Leontief Sr., probably due to the forthcoming marriage but whether
certificate was presented is not known.
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