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Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Calle de Madrid 126, 28903 Getafe, Spain

Office 15.2.04

E-Mail: pdenter [at] eco.uc3m.es

Welcome to My Academic Homepage

I am an Associate Professor of Economics (with tenure) at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain. Until September 2025, I am also a visiting researcher at DICE/University of Düsseldorf. My research primarily focuses on (Applied) Microeconomic Theory and Political Economy, with a particular interest in:

The role of digital social media networks, AI, and disinformation in shaping political decision-making.
The political economy of (in)action in response to climate change.
The causes and consequences of political polarization.
Incentive provision through contests and tournaments.

My work contributes to advancing our understanding of strategic decision-making in economic and political environments, with implications for policy and institutional design.

I received my Ph.D. in Economics from the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) in 2012 and my Diplom-Volkswirt (equivalent to an M.A. in Economics) from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Germany) in 2006.

In 2024, I was awarded a Ramón y Cajal fellowship by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI, Spanish National Science Agency). I am also Co-Principal Investigator of an AEI funded research project on Public Good Provision under Uncertainty in Democracies and Learning Dynamics in Digital Social Networks. Since 2020, I have been a research associate of the EFFORT Project.

You can find my contact details on the left side of this webpage, below my photo. Here are link to my current CV, my Google Scholar profile, and my Orcid profile.

News & Updates:

March 28, 2026: I participated in the inaugural workshop of the newly founded Standing Committee for Political Economy of the German Economic Association (VfS) at Freie Universität Berlin.
December 3, 2025: This week I visited University of Bremen (Germany) to give a research seminar on "Troll Farms" and a lecture on "Decision Making in the Digital World" (slides), as part of the "NextGen Decisions: Global Challenges, Local Action" lecture series. Many thanks to the organizers and the group of highly motivated students! It was a lot of fun!
November 18, 2025: I presented my paper "Truth, Lies, and Social Ties: When Image Concerns Fuel Fake News" at the Behavioral Coffee at DICE, University of Düsseldorf (Germany). Many thanks for the engaging discussion and comments!
September 19, 2025: I presented my paper "Truth, Lies, and Social Ties: When Image Concerns Fuel Fake News" (w/ Dana Sisak) at the 2025 edition of the Political Economy - Theory Meets Empirics workshop, organized by King's College London, University of Graz, University of Bremen (host), and DIFIS. Here is the program.
September 17, 2025: I'm now a member of the newly established Standing Committee for Political Economy of the German Economic Association (VfS, link).
June 19/2, 2025: I was invited to attend the third Benelux Political Economy Conference, hosted by Erasmus University Rotterdam. Here is the program.
I was invited to give a talk at the Conference in Memory of John Morgan, Salt Lake City, on May 16/17 2025.
December 16, 2024: I presented my paper "Information Sharing with Social Image Concerns and the Spread of Fake News" at the Annual Congress of the Spanish Economic Association (SAEe), hosted by Universitat de les Illes Balears in Palma de Mallorca.
June 20/21, 2024: I was invited to attend the second Benelux Political Economy Conference, hosted by Université Libre de Bruxelles. Here is the program.
June 10, 2024: I presented my paper "Feedback Effects or Small Sample-Size Theater? Regression to the Mean in a Real-Effort Tournament" at the 2nd UC3M Micro Retreat.
April 3, 2024: I attended the EPCS congress in Vienna and presented my paper "Motivated Reasoning, and the Political Economy of Ignoring Climate Change".
February 21, 2024: I presented my paper "Information Sharing with Social Image Concerns" at the 2024 Microeconomics Workshop hosted by Leuphana University Lüneburg.
September 14, 2023: For my research project "The Poltical Economy of Public Good Provision under Uncertainty and Learning in the Digital Age" I was selected as a recipient of a Ramón y Cajal fellowship by the Spanish National Science Foundation (Agencia Estatal De Investigación).
July 19, 2023: Together with my colleague Martin Dumav, I have received a Generacion de Conocimiento grant from the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation to study the interrelation of Public Good Provision under Uncertainty in Democracies and Learning Dynamics in Digital Social Networks.
June 26, 2023: Today I visited TU Dortmund to present my work on Troll Frams and Voter Disinformation.
June 15, 2023: I was invited to attend the inaugural Benelux Political Economy Conference, hosted by the University of Luxembourg. Here is the program.
June 3, 2023: I presented my paper "Information Sharing with Social Image Concerns" at the UC3M Micro Retreat.
March 2, 2023: I presented my paper "Motivated Reasoning and the Political Economy of Ignoring Climate Change" at the 2023 Microeconomics Workshop hosted by Leuphana University Lüneburg.
July 12, 2022: I presented my paper "Flooding the Zone? Troll Farms and Voter Disinformation" at Bielefeld University.
June 21, 2022: I presented my paper "Flooding the Zone? Troll Farms and Voter Disinformation" in the Online Seminar Series at Lancaster University.
April 12, 2022: I joined the editorial board of the about to be launched open access journal Frontiers in Behavioral Economics.
October 8, 2021: I was invited to presented my new paper "Information Sharing With Status Concerns (w Dana Sisak) at the "Political Economy – Theory Meets Empirics" workshop, hosted by King's College London and University of Bremen. Here is the program.
September 26, 2021: I just presented my new paper "Information Sharing With Status Concerns at the Madrid Political Economy Workshop hosted by CUNEF. Here is the program.
April 6, 2021: My paper "Valence, Complementarities, and Political Polarization" was accepted for publication by Games and Economic Behavior.

The picture above shows Lake Álftavatn in the Icelandic highlands.