He has a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University with specialization in development economics and economic history. He is Chief Executive Officer of Silatech, Qatar. He was the founding Dean of the Dubai School of Government. He worked at Georgetown University, where he held the positions of Associate Professor of Economics in the School of Foreign Service, and Sheikh Sabah Al Salem Al Sabah Professor of Arab Studies at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. He worked as Economist in the Middle East and African Departments of the International Monetary Fund, a visiting senior economist in the Middle East and North Africa Region of the World Bank and senior advisor for the Millennium Project at the UN. His researches include the study of youth inclusion, the political economy of policy reform, the dynamics of transitions to democracy, and development policies in oil-exporting countries of the Arab world. He is Senior Fellow at Brookings; Senior Fellow at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy; Research Fellow of the Economic Research Forum; and Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Arab World in 2011-2012.