Ricardo Gazel, a citizen of Brazil, received his B.A. degree in Economics from University of Minas Gerais, Brazil in 1981. He worked in the private and public sector in Brazil and spent one year conducting economic research in the Brazilian Amazon. He completed his graduate education at the University of Illinois, earning a M.A. in Economics in 1990 and a Ph.D. in Economics in 1994. He joined the Bank in December 2007 as senior economist for Angola where he lives currently. Prior to joining the Bank, he worked for the Inter-American Development Bank, Federal Reserve Bank and University of Nevada. He has published many articles, book chapters, and monographs in the area of regional growth, the impacts of international trade on regional economies, and the economics of gambling.