He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Minnesota. His research interests are in the fields of international trade and international macroeconomics, focusing on the effects of trade and financial liberalization in the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe that joined the European Union in 2004 and 2007. He has been a Visiting Researcher at the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) in 2014, 2015 and 2017.