After graduating from Robert College in Istanbul,[4] he obtained an A.B. degree (summa cum laude) in Government and Economics from Harvard College in 1979. He then earned an M.P.A. degree (with distinction) from Princeton School of Public and International Affairs in 1981 and a Ph.D. degree in Economics from Princeton University in 1985, with the thesis titled Studies on the Welfare Theory of Trade and Exchange-rate Policy.[5]