Kantorovich, Leonid Vitaliyevich, << kan TAWR uh vihch, LAY uh nihd vih TAL yuh vihch >> (1912-1986), was a Russian mathematician and economist. In 1975, he shared the Nobel Prize for economics with Tjalling Koopmans of the United States for their work on how economic resources should be distributed and used (see Koopmans, Tjalling Charles ).
In his book The Best Use of Economic Resources (1959), Kantorovich outlined how the mathematical technique of linear programming could be used in economic planning. He demonstrated mathematically how lack of government control over a country’s economy led to prices depending solely on how abundant or scarce a particular product or resource was. At that time, the Soviet Union relied heavily on central planning and government control of economic activities, including prices. Kantorovich’s refusal to accept Soviet ideas led to friction between himself and the orthodox economists of his country.
Kantorovich was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. At the age of 18, he received a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Leningrad (St. Petersburg), then in the U.S.S.R. He was a professor there from 1934 until his retirement in 1960. In 1971, he became a member of the Institute of Economic Planning in Moscow.
