"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.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.