Ruben Durante

Ruben Durante is Professor of Economics and Provost's Chair at the National University of Singapore, and ICREA Research Professor at Pompeu Fabra University. He maintains extensive affiliations as Research Fellow at CEPR, CESifo, and IZA; affiliated faculty to Barcelona School of Economics and IPEG; Research Advisor at Gallup; and Research Professor at Ifo. Previously held visiting positions at Yale University and Paris School of Economics.

Educational background:

• BA in Economics, University of Messina (Italy)
• Master in Political Economy, Sorbonne University (France)
• Master in Economics, Brown University (US)
• PhD in Economics, Brown University (US)

His research focuses on political economy of media systems, examining how traditional and new media shape democratic processes, public opinion formation, and economic outcomes. Key investigations include misinformation dynamics in AI-driven information ecosystems, climate change belief polarization following natural disasters, social capital measurement frameworks, visual stereotyping in news coverage, and institutional relationships between financial entities and media outlets.

Recent scholarly output reveals converging trends across media economics and political economy, with increasing emphasis on digital transformation impacts. His work integrates experimental methodologies to analyze GenAI's role in news consumption, leverages natural experiments to study climate narratives, and develops novel metrics for social capital and media bias.

Scientific recognition:

• ERC Starting Grant
• ERC Consolidator Grant
• ERC Proof of Concept Grant

Research leadership includes editorial service as Associate Editor for Economic Journal and principal investigator roles across multiple ERC-funded projects. His collaborative network spans CEPR, CESifo, IZA, and Barcelona School of Economics research initiatives, facilitating cross-institutional studies on media-politics-economy intersections.

While no dedicated laboratory is specified, his research infrastructure leverages partnerships with Gallup for survey data and Ifo Institute for economic analysis, operating through virtual research collectives focused on political economy of information.