 He studied for a Doctor of Philosophy degree in economics at Jesus College, Oxford, from 1971 to 1974, and published his findings on Argentine industrialization in 1976.Whilst at Jesus College, he played football for the college team and polo for the university team.After leaving Oxford, he worked as an economist at the United Nations in Geneva, and then at the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, where he worked on food security and South-South cooperation.