Since January, 2018, Klas Eklund is the Senior Economist of the law firm Mannheimer Swartling. From 1982 until 1990, Eklund was employed in the Swedish Ministry of Finance, where he finally held the position of deputy under-secretary of state, and in the Prime Minister's Office, where he was an economic policy adviser and speechwriter to the PM. He was one of the closest collaborators of Kjell-Olof Feldt, the then Minister of Finance, and was seen as one of the leading modernisers of the Swedish Social Democratic party. He has chaired several government commissions, including the Swedish Productivity Advisory Panel and "The commission to enhance the efficiency of the public sector". Eklund was also the secretary of a joint effort from the labour movement to write a strategic vision of the future beyond the welfare state. He has served as an economic policy adviser to the European Commission, and participated in an international expert group which in 2009 published a plan for China's climate policy. From 1994 to 2007 he was the chief economist of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, one of the largest banks in Scandinavia. From 2007 to 2015, he was the bank's Senior Economist. From 2016 to 2017 he was SEB's Sustainability Economist. In 2009, he was appointed adjunct Professor of economics, University of Lund. He is on a number of boards including the Sixth General Pension Fund, and Mistra, a government-funded foundation for environmental research. In 2011, he was appointed member of the Swedish government's "Commission for the Future", chaired by the Prime Minister. In 2015 he chaired another Government commission on the future of the labour market. In 2010, Eklund received the first Jacob Palmstierna award for economic writing. In 2012 he was ranked the most influential person in Sweden as regards sustainability issues. He was also selected as a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences IVA. In 2017, he was awarded His Majesty the King's gold medal for "outstanding services as an economist". His many publications include the textbook Vår ekonomi. En introduktion till samhällsekonomin, which so far has been published in 14 Swedish editions and is translated into both Russian and Chinese. He has published some 1,000 articles in different magazines and newspapers. He has written books on taxes, globalisation and growth. Eklund has also published a book on climate change, "Vårt klimat", a biography of former Swedish PM Olof Palme, and a book about China's economic and political development. His most recent books are about innovation policy and economic growth. Apart from economic and political publications, Eklund has written the political thrillerLäckan which was made into a TV series, broadcast on Swedish national television in 1994.
