Pareto was born in Paris to an Italian father and a French mother, and he grew up in Italy. He studied mathematics, engineering, and physics at the University of Turin, and later worked as an engineer and a businessman. He also taught economics and sociology at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.

Pareto's most important contribution to economics was the concept of Pareto efficiency, which states that an economy is Pareto efficient when no one can be made better off without making someone else worse off. This concept is now widely used in economics and has many practical applications in fields such as public policy and market regulation.

Pareto also made important contributions to the field of sociology, where he developed the concept of the "elite," which refers to a small group of people who hold a disproportionate amount of power and influence in society. This concept has had a lasting impact on the study of power and inequality in social science.

Pareto is considered one of the most influential social scientists of his time, and his work has had a lasting impact on economics, sociology, and other social sciences.