He holds a degree in Economic Sciences from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (1971), an M.Sc. in Development, Agriculture and Society from the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (1981), and a Dr. Phil. in Economics from the Freie Universität Berlin (1988), Germany.

He is a Full Professor at the Federal University of Pará, affiliated with the Graduate Program in Sustainable Development of the Humid Tropics at the Center for Advanced Amazonian Studies (NAEA), as well as the Graduate Program in Economics at the Faculty of Economics. He is also an active researcher with the Research Network on Local Productive and Innovative Systems and Arrangements (RedeSist, UFRJ). A CNPq research productivity fellow until 2020, he was a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Brazilian Studies (CBS) at the University of Oxford, England (Hilary and Trinity Terms, 2007).

He is a member of the Science Panel for the Amazon, under the auspices of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), a global initiative for the United Nations, and of the Scientific Council of the Integrated Center for Amazon Sociobiodiversity at the Federal University of Pará (CISAM/UFPA).

His research focuses on agrarian economics, regional development, and the relationship between economics and environmental sustainability, with particular emphasis on the role of technological and institutional innovation, especially in the Amazon. He served as Director of the Directorate for Regional, Urban and Environmental Studies and Policies (DIRUR) at IPEA in 2011 and 2012.