Author, Teacher, Consultant
Robert Klitgaard is a leading authority on anti-corruption, governance, and development whose ideas have shaped policy in capitals around the world. A University Professor at Claremont Graduate University, he led the university as President (2005–2009) and has advised institutions and governments in more than 40 countries. His approach blends rigorous analysis with field-tested pragmatism, equipping leaders to diagnose institutional failure and deliver measurable reform.
Klitgaard’s books have influenced a generation of policymakers and scholars. Cornerstones include Controlling Corruption and Tropical Gangsters, named one of the New York Times’ Books of the Century. Recent works span The Culture and Development Manifesto (OUP, 2021), Prevail (2022), and two 2023 titles—Policy Analysis for Big Issues and Bold and Humble: How to Lead Government, Business, Citizen Collaboration, with Five Success Stories. In 2025, he co-authored Co-Intelligence Applied, an anthology on human–AI collaboration across sectors.
His leadership and scholarship continue to earn global recognition. In November 2024 he received the Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani International Anti-Corruption Excellence Award (Academic Research & Education). In June 2025, ScholarGPS ranked him among the world’s top 50 scholars in corruption, policy analysis, and exploratory data analysis. He also develops practical toolkits—including generative-AI prompt packages—to help teams convene stakeholders, craft cases, and turn talk into action. Audiences value the clear frameworks, vivid case studies, and immediate takeaways he brings to every engagement.
Testimonials
There is no better guide to policies that seek to make life better and more just for everyone.
Francis Fukuyama, Stanford University
With each new book, Klitgaard further journeys beyond the status of academic intellectual to the role of wise teacher from whom we all can learn.
Jim Collins, author of Good to Great
Brand New and Open Access
Graduate School, Augmented: The Joys of Learning, Creating, and Finding Your Way with AI. gradschoolaugmented.com
In the Field
With President Aquino in the Philippines at a convening in 2011.
Academic Positions
University Professor, Claremont Graduate University; President, 2005–2009.
Along the way:
- Dean and Ford Distinguished Professor of International Development and Security, RAND Graduate School
- Associate professor at the Kennedy School and Special Assistant to the President of Harvard
- Lester Crown visiting professor of economics at the Yale School of Management
- Li Ka-shing Distinguished Chair Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore
- Professor of economics at University of KwaZulu-Natal
- Visiting research professor, Applied Economics Research Centre, University of Karachi
- Visiting Fellow, Nuffield College and the Blavatnik School, Oxford
A.B., M.P.P., and Ph.D., Harvard University.
Books translated into eighteen languages. nearly 14,000 citations in Google Scholar.
Now
The revolutionary new and the very old, together:
Delivering the 2026 Commencement address for the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering at Hereford Cathedral, whose construction began in 1079.
Selected Books
Controlling Corruption
This classic book helped launch the global anti-corruption movement. It provides practical frameworks for designing anti-corruption policies, and shows through five case studies how courageous policymakers were able to take politics and management into account.
Tropical Gangsters
Selected as one of the Books of the Century by the New York Times Book Review.
This splendid book has been compared with the writings of V.S. Naipaul and Joseph Conrad, and John Updike’s The Coup; to me it recalls Evelyn Waugh’s Black Mischief, except that it is all true and written by an economist with a cool head and a warm heart. Never before has economic analysis been presented in a more vivid and (at least for some) winning way.
Paul Streeten, Director, World Development Institute
The Culture and Development Manifesto
In this highly engaging book, Klitgaard demonstrates what “taking culture into account” may mean in practice. This is a book that only Klitgaard, with this sharp multidisciplinary lens, wealth of on-the-ground experience, and remarkable penmanship, could have pulled off.
Dani Rodrik, Harvard University
Graduate School, Augmented
The Joys of Learning, Creating, and Finding Your Way with AI. Contains more than 50 classroom-tested prompts to pursue six classic goals of higher education: mastery, integrity, research skills, collaboration, communication, and career development.
For Organizers and Press
Bio for programs and introductions. Please use as is or shorten.
For booking inquiries and consulting, please contact Bob at robert.klitgaard@gmail.com.
For speaking engagements, see Bob’s profile at Chartwell Speakers.