19 Facts About Robert Ekelund

Robert Ekelund was a member of the Order of the Barons and first worked as an instructor in economics while completing his master's degree.

Robert Ekelund then moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to teach and continue his graduate work at Louisiana State University.

Robert Ekelund finished his PhD in economics and political theory there in 1967.

Robert Ekelund would maintain this interest in Dupuit, making him the topic of a dozen journal articles and a 1999 book, Secret Origins of Modern Microeconomics: Dupuit and the Engineers.

In 1979, Robert Ekelund moved to Auburn, Alabama to become a professor at Auburn University, where he was the first Director of Graduate Students in economics, for Auburn's new PhD program.

Robert Ekelund was a visiting scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and in 2003 he served as the Vernon Taylor Distinguished Visiting Professor at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

Robert Ekelund was a policy advisor to the Heartland Institute, an Independent Institute research fellow, and an adjunct faculty member of the Mises Institute.

Robert Ekelund retired from Auburn University in 2003, becoming the Catherine and Edward Lowder Eminent Scholar Emeritus.

Economic topics notably discussed by Robert Ekelund include cultural economics, the history of economic thought, the economics of regulation, the economics of religion, public choice theory, mercantilism, and the economics of the American Civil War blockades.

Robert Ekelund's 1981 book with Tollison, Mercantilism as a Rent-Seeking Society, is cited as an exemplar of the school of thought that argues that mercantilism, rather than being the result of miscalculation, was a system designed by rent-seekers to enforce public policy favorable towards themselves.

Robert Ekelund has been associated with such studies for several decades, conducting studies with colleagues in the late 20th and early 21st centuries using a small auction sample of Latin American art.

Robert Ekelund designed book covers for the University of Chicago Press and Edward Elgar Publishing in London.

Robert Ekelund was an avid art collector and curator whose collection has been exhibited in several museums.

Robert Ekelund was a founding member of the advisory board for the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art in Auburn, Alabama and was the museum's acting co-director from 2006 to 2007 and chairman of the Advisory Board from 2010 to 2012.

Robert Ekelund was an accomplished pianist, having been classically trained since childhood, and recorded five albums: Solace ; Reverie; Bach, Beethoven, Brahms; Musical Idioms; and Reflections on Childhood, which featured his performances of works by Bach, Chopin, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Debussy, Ravel, Grieg, Griffes, Scott Joplin, Turina, Granados, Gershwin, and others.

Robert Ekelund was a contestant in the 2008,2009,2012, and 2014 Van Cliburn Amateur Competition, and he created an homage to Chopin's 200th birthday.

Robert Ekelund was a keen cook and gastronome, and was a partner in the award-winning Greenhouse Restaurant in Opelika, which operated from 1979 to 1993.

Robert Ekelund enjoyed gardening, and was selected for the Auburn tour of beautiful yards.

Robert Ekelund died on August 17,2023, at the age of 82, after a years-long battle with Parkinson's disease, and later cancer.