Simon Kuznets
Simon Kuznets received the 1971 prize in Economic Sciences. This profile brings together the official award record and attributed background on the economist’s work and career.
Personal and professional profile
- Name
- Simon Kuznets [1]
- Full name
- Simon Kuznets [2]
- Birth date
- 1901-04-30 [2]
- Birthplace
- Pinsk, Russian Empire (now Belarus) [2]
- Education
- Columbia University; Kharkiv Commercial Institute; Pinsk Realschule [3]
- Fields / occupation
- economist; statistician [3]
- Prize
- Economic Sciences · 1971 [2]
- Research recognized
- Empirical research explaining economic growth and its relationship to structural economic and social development. [2]
- Prize share
- 1 [2]
- Affiliation at the award
- Harvard University [2]
- Death date
- 1985-07-08 [2]
- Institutions in career record
- Johns Hopkins University; Harvard University; University of Pennsylvania [3]
Research, education and career background
Simon Smith Kuznets ( KUZ-nets; Russian: Семён Абра́мович Кузне́ц, romanized: Semyon Abramovich Kuznets, IPA: [sʲɪˈmʲɵn ɐˈbraməvʲɪtɕ kʊzʲˈnʲets]; April 30, 1901 – July 8, 1985) was a Russian-born American economist and statistician. He received the 1971 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences "for his empirically founded interpretation of economic growth which has led to new and deepened insight into the economic and social structure and process of development." [4]
Kuznets made a decisive contribution to the transformation of economics into an empirical science and to the formation of quantitative economic history. Kuznets pioneered the concept of gross domestic product, which seeks to capture all economic production in a state by a single measure. [4]
Selected introductory text by Wikipedia contributors — Simon Kuznets, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Official facts are cited separately.
Award and academic affiliation
The official Nobel record dates the Economic Sciences award to 1971 and lists Harvard University as the affiliation at the time. [2]
An affiliation attached to an award describes that point in the person’s career; it does not establish a current appointment. [2]
Education and career timeline
Source-supported connections
Frequently asked questions
When did Simon Kuznets receive the prize in Economic Sciences?
The official award record gives the year as 1971. [2]
Which institution was Simon Kuznets affiliated with at the time of the Economic Sciences award?
Harvard University. This is the award-time affiliation. [2]
Simon Kuznets connection map
Select a node to inspect the relationship and source.
Links retain their source-specific meaning. Award-time affiliations and links to related reading are not claims about current appointments or economic causation.
Sources and review dates
- Nobel Prize — official biography and award record ↗
- Nobel Prize — official biography and award record ↗
- Wikidata background facts (CC0) ↗
- Wikipedia contributors — Simon Kuznets (CC BY-SA 4.0) ↗
Reviewed 23 October 2026. Historical dates and award-time affiliations retain their original context. A review date is not an event date. Background sources are identified separately from official records.