Robert's research focuses on macroeconomic policies and the transmission of shocks throughout the global economy. For much of his career he has also studied the resolution of sovereign debt crises and financial distress, including the role of debt restructuring. 

Prior to joining Eurasia Group, Robert was an economic consultant and adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University. Before that, he was a senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, a senior strategist with Moore Capital Management, and a senior adviser in the financial policy department at the World Bank, where he focused on financial sector assessments for developing economies and was the bank's liaison to the secretariat of the Financial Stability Forum. Robert has also held senior staff positions at the IMF and at Citigroup; he served as the head of the Office of Industrial Nations at the US Treasury and was a senior economist on the Council of Economic Advisers and the Federal Reserve Board.

Robert received a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago and a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.