Klitgaard is the author of twelve books, most recently Prevail: How to Face Upheavals and Make Big Choices with the Help of Heroes (2022) and The Culture and Development Manifesto (2021).
[2] Klitgaard has been an advisor to many governments on economic strategy and institutional reform, and his consulting work and research have taken him to more than thirty countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
It included a statement that standardized test scores were more likely to overestimate the future academic performance of female and minority students, which elicited a negative response from President Derek Bok.
"[3] His book Tropical Gangsters is a biographical tale detailing his time spent as an economic advisor in Equatorial Guinea, as well as some surfing on the island of Bioko.
Klitgaard met his wife Elaine when, as a visiting professor at the University of Natal, he asked her to assist in installing a math coprocessor.