Klas Eklund (born in 1952) is the Senior Economist of SEB. Between 1994 and 2007 he was the bank's Chief Economist. He is also a member of the European Commission's Group of Economic Policy Analysis, chaired by the Commission President.
Klas Eklund is a licentiate of economics from the Stockholm School of Economics; the topic of his thesis was long-term industrial growth and transformation. In the 1980's he worked in the Ministry of Finance (as Deputy Under-Secretary of State) and in the Cabinet office (as economic adviser to the Prime Minister). In 1990-91 he chaired the government's Productivity Commission, analysing the poor Swedish growth performance in the 1970s and 80s, as well as drawing economic policy conclusions.
Mr. Eklund has also held a number of other positions, e.g member of the Board of Governors of the Swedish Central Bank, member of the board of the 5th General Pension fund, Chief economist at Sweden Post, member of the board of ABB Treasury Center Sweden, Chairman of the government's Committee for Economic Studies of the Public Sector, Judge for the Swedish Quality Prize, etc.
Klas Eklund has published some 800 articles and columns and a number of books, including the best-selling Swedish economics text-book (also translated into Russian and Chinese), books on the budget deficit, the Swedish tax system, economic growth and financial markets. He has also written a financial thriller about insider trade and murder in the Ministry of Finance. That book has been made into a movie, broadcast on Swedish TV.