Graduated in Electronic Engineering from the Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA), with an M.Sc. in Statistics from the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA) and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago. Holds a Postdoctoral degree from the Center for Economic Research at the University of Chicago and from the Center for Economic Growth at Yale University.

He was part of the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea) for more than 30 years, where he conducted numerous research studies focused on issues related to inequality and poverty, labor market, and education in Brazil and Latin America.

Between 2011 and 2015, he was the Undersecretary of Strategic Actions at the Secretariat for Strategic Affairs of the Presidency of the Republic. At the Ayrton Senna Institute, he served as chief economist from 2015 to 2019.

Since 2015, he has been a professor and researcher at Insper, where he focuses on the use of scientific evidence to identify major national challenges and to formulate and evaluate public policies.