Leontief Will Direct World Econ. Group

About 250 professional economists will meet in Geneva early next fall for an International Conference on Input-Output Techniques sponsored by the United Nations Secretariat and the University Economic Research Project. Chairman of the meeting will be Wassily W. Leontief, Henry Lee Professor of Economics, who developed the original technique in the thirties.

Representatives from economic research centers, schools, and governments in approximately 35 countries have requested and received invitations to the Sept. 11-15 conference. The U. N. will provide simultaneous translations of speeches in four languages and will print daily minutes for immediate circulation.

Since its birth in 1932, input-output analysis has been adopted by over 30 countries to meet various economic challenges. Leontief explained that regardless of a nation's political philosophy or stage of development, input-output analysis can aid in predicting the outcome of economic changes and in understanding the interrelations of industrial sectors.

Essentially, the analysis consists of a double-entry table showing what each industry supplies to each other industry and to the final consumer. Data from this table are processed by computers into coefficients that show the amounts of every input required to produce a dollar's worth of a given product.

The Conference, financed by the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Science Foundation, will evaluate research techniques now in use, and attempt to establish improved international standards. Leontief believes the meeting will help eliminate wasteful duplication of input-output work, and he hopes the conference will lay the ground for further international cooperation in economics at the professional rather than the state level.