He holds a PhD in Economics from MIT – Massachussetts Institute of Technology. He was an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University. He is a founding partner of Instituto de Estudos em Política Econômica da Casa das Garças and was a member of the board of directors of the International Advisory Board of Itaú-Unibanco. He worked as executive director of Banco de Investimentos Garantia, Unibanco and Banco Matrix and was a managing partner of Lanx Capital Investimentos.

He was a professor at PUC-Rio, member of the board of directors of the Central Bank of Brazil and President of BNDES. He was part of the team that worked in the Real Plan and was an advisor to the President of Brazil during the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration.

His book Os limites do possível: A economia além da conjuntura, published in 2013, also by Cia das Letras/Portfolio-Penguin, was awarded the Jabuti Prize in the book of the year in Economics, Finance and Business, in 2014.

His book Devagar e Simples: Economia, Estado e Vida Contemporânea, published in 2015 by Cia das Letras/Portfolio-Penguin, was awarded the Jabuti Prize in the book of the year in Economics, Finance and Business, in 2016.

His book Juros, Moeda e Ortodoxia was published in 2017 by Cia das Letras/Portfolio-Penguin.

His latest book Consenso e Contrassenso was published in 2020 by Cia das Letras/Portfolio-Penguin.