In 1967, after the completion of his PhD, Ekelund was hired by Texas A&M University economics department, where he was Director of Graduate Students.

Textbooks by Ekelund have sold successfully with his and Robert Tollison's basic book, "Economics" now in its seventh edition.

His book with Robert Hebert, "A History of Economic Theory and Method" has entered its sixth edition and has been in continuous publication for five decades.

The book illustrates how models can facilitate the analysis of economic theory as well as its interaction with both ancient and contemporary psychology, sociology, anthropology, and culture.

Price chronicled these stark innovations in a recent book entitled The Economics of Edwin Chadwick: Incentives Matter.

According to Professor Sam Peltzman of the University of Chicago, "Economists owe a great debt to Ekelund and Price for making us aware of Edwin Chadwick's seminal contributions.

These include Coase's analysis of social cost and Demsetz's proposal for franchise bidding in natural monopolies.

[7] His 1999 collaboration with Hébert, Secret Origins of Modern Microeconomics, has been praised for publicizing the theoretical and applied achievements of Jules Dupuit and others whose work in economics was often previously overlooked as mere engineering literature.

In his review, economist Marcel Boumans of the University of Amsterdam asserts, "For too long they were neglected in the history of economics.

[11]In his Chronicle of Higher Education review of The Marketplace of Christianity, David Glenn notes that arguments in the book that Westerners have demanded "cheaper" religions over time are at odds with assertions by economist Laurence R. Iannaccone that "strict churches are strong.

"[12] Barry R. Chiswick in his 2009 review of the book in the Journal of Economic Literature, notes that Ekelund and his cohorts use income, education, the state of science and full price of alternative religious beliefs to predict the types of religions chosen.

[13]Chiswick concludes that schisms are beneficial and that "[t]hese ideas seem to be particularly relevant in the current period where religious fundamentalism and liberalism/individualism are clashing to various degrees in all the world's religions.

The book introduces St. Paul as an entrepreneur, Constantine as a political strategist and the Merovingian and Carolingian monarchs as players with the Roman papacy to enhance the church's power and dominance over much of Western Europe—culminating in a virtual monopoly during the high Middle Ages.

This is a major contribution to the study of religion, giving us a fresh, analytical approach to early Christianity and how it became the powerful medieval church.

David Throsby of Macquarie University comments that the book is an exemplary illustration of the way in which economics, when competently and sensitively applied, can illuminate important aspects of the role of art in human affairs.

[23][24] Ekelund also designed book covers for the University of Chicago Press and Edward Elgar Publishing in London.

[26] Ekelund was also an accomplished pianist, having been classically trained since childhood,[1] and recorded five albums: Solace (also called For the Piano); 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.