His main area of specialization is political economy, mass media, and economic development. Ruben has published works on the effect of mass media on voting in American Economic Review and Journal of Public Economics and continues to work on several projects in these areas, including a randomized impact evaluation of the largest development program in Afghanistan. He won First Prize in the Global Development Network Medals Competition for Research in Development. His research was support from the International Growth Center, Canadian International Development Agency, USAID, the UN’s World Food program and the World Bank among others.