Sofia Maier
PhD in Economics | Researcher | Public Policies

Email: maier.sofia@gmail.com; LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sofiamaier; Google Site: sites.google.com/view/sofiamaier/main

Education

PhD in Applied Economics – Economic Policy
University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium (2015–2019)

Full-time Research Grant (BOF), Faculty of Applied Economics – Economic Policy Programme.  

Supervisors: Sunčica Vujić & Guido Erreygers

Research Visits: (I) Sep–Dec 2018: Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF)– Mentor: Isaac Baley; (II) Apr–Sep 2018: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona – Mentor: Xavi Ramos

MSc in Economics and Business – International Economics (cum laude)
Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands (2011–2012)

One year master, on International Economics, with focus on Development, Poverty and Econometrics.

BA in Economics
Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay (2005–2011)

Extensive (plan 1990) career consisting of 5 year of courses (38) + 1 year of thesis research

Professional Experience

External Researcher - Energy Transition Project

LISER (Luxembourg Institute of Socioeconomic Research) - Madrid, Spain (2025 - current) 

• Collaboration on Energy Transition Project (carbon pricing, gender and energy poverty).

• Co-supervision of a PhD student working on distributional effects of climate policies

Senior Advisor - Public Policies Department 

President’s Office, Government of Spain (La Moncloa) - Madrid, Spain (2025 - current) 

• Applied research for policy advisory. Elaboration of policy briefs with evidence-based policy advice to senior decision-makers. 

• Quick responses to emerging policy needs, communication of complex analyses to senior decision-makers and management of multiple dossiers under time pressure.

• Main areas: taxation, housing and migration.

Economic Analyst
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Seville, Spain (2019 – 2025)

• Provide scientific input for the ex-ante evaluation of the budgetary and distributional impacts of key EU policies, supporting the European Semester and EU-level policy initiatives. Contributions include analysis of the Fit-for-55 package (e.g. CBAM and the revision of the Energy Taxation Directive), the Energy Poverty Recommendation, and the Pay Transparency Directive.

• Specialised in the assessment of distributional effects of tax-benefit reforms, macroeconomic shocks (e.g. COVID-19, inflation), and environmental policies.

• Core member of the EUROMOD team, contributing to the annual update and further development of the EU’s tax-benefit microsimulation model. Actively involved in the transfer of EUROMOD from the University of Essex to the Joint Research Centre (2019–2021), with experience coordinating model updates and liaising with national teams, Eurostat, and the wider scientific community.

• Country model developer for Malta, Luxembourg, and Croatia (2019–2022), and Belgium and Germany (2022–2025). Contributed to the development of the consumption tax extension (2020–2024).

• Concept developer and coordinator of Green EUROMOD (initial phase), extending EUROMOD by integrating household-level carbon footprints to enable carbon pricing simulations. The model supports policy analysis for instruments such as ETS2 and the Social Climate Fund.

Consultant on Multidimensional Poverty Analysis and Gender
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Remote (2013 & 2015)

• Applied research using time-use data for the estimation of bidimensional (income/time) measures of poverty to improve the design and evaluation of public policies with a gender approach - following the LIMTIP methodology developed by the Levy Economics Institute (Bard College, New York).

• Delivery of policy-oriented technical support and training across Latin American countries.

• Author of background paper on time poverty, gender inequality and policy challenges in Latin America for the 2016 UNDP Human Development Report in Latin America.

Economic Advisor
Budget and Planning Office (OPP), Presidency of Uruguay, Montevideo (2013 – 2015)

• Development of a national microsimulation tool to evaluate policy options ex-ante.

• Advisory activities to senior officials using transparent and data-based simulations to support fiscal policy decisions.

Economic Consultant
Carle & Andrioli (Consulting/Accounting firm), Uruguay (2013 – 2015 - External)

• Evidence-based economic reports and briefs for public and private sector stakeholders.

Junior Consultant
PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), Economics Consulting Department, Uruguay (2009 – 2011)

• Applied economic consulting projects and communication of findings to non-technical audiences, including radio, TV and newspapers.

Research and Teaching Experience

Research

• External Researcher - Energy Transition Project and cosupervisor PhD student, LISER Luxembourg (2025-current)

• Full-time PhD research grant - University of Antwerp, Belgium (2015-2019)

Teaching 

• Assistant Lecturer, Graduate Economic Seminar – University of Antwerp (2017–2018)

• Lecturer, Economics I – Universidad de la República (2010–2011)

• Secondary School Economics Teacher – Uruguay (2008–2011)

Languages and other skills

Languages

Spanish (Native), English (Fluent), Italian/Portuguese/French (Basic)

Software

Stata (Advanced), LaTeX (Advanced), MS Office (Advanced), R (Basic)

Publications

Peer-reviewed articles

Bridging climate and social equity: Progressive carbon tax simulations for Belgium

with Floore Bursens, Silvia De Poli and Gerlinde Verbist
Ecological Economics, 2026 –  [Link to the article]

Minimum energy taxes for climate and clean air in the EU: Environmental and distributional impacts
with Toon Vandyck, Mattia Ricci, Luis Rey, Marie Tamba and Fabian Wagner
Energy Economics, 2025 – Link to the article

Who is "Energy Poor" in the EU?

with Ilda Dreoni
Energy Policy, 2025 –  [Link to the article]
 

Limiting Prices or Transferring Money?
with Antonio F. Amores, Paola De Agostini, Michael Christl, Silvia De Poli
Energy Economics, 2025 –  [Link to the article]
 

Enforcing Equal Pay for Equal Work in the EU: what would it take?
with Silvia De Poli
Journal of Economic Inequality, 2024 – [Link to the article]
 

Characterizing the Schooling Cycle
with Barbara Sadaba and Sunčica Vujić
Economic Modelling, 2024 – [Link to the article]
 

Inflation, Fiscal Policy, and Inequality
with multiple co-authors
Review of Income and Wealth, 2024 – [Link to the article]
 

The Redistributive Impact of Indirect Taxation in the EU
with Mattia Ricci
Economic Analysis and Policy, 2024 – [Link to the article]
 

Taxing Household Energy Consumption in the EU
with Antonio F. Amores and Mattia Ricci
Energy Policy, 2023 –  [Link to the article]
 

Working Papers and Other Reports

Carbon taxes on consumption:  distributional implications for a just transition (with Silvia De Poli and Antonio F. Amores) ; Link: EM WP EUROMOD Working Paper Series EUROMOD baseline report, JRC Working Papers on Taxation and Structural Reforms No 1/2022  (with many colleagues): Link here (2022 report) 

Shedding light on hidden deprivations. Time-income poverty and public policies in Latin America. Lessons from the LIMTIP experiences UNDP background paper for the 2016 Human Development Report for Latin America (available in English and Spanish). HDR 2016. Link to the background paper: English version | Spanish version 

La pertinencia y desafíos de incorporar el tiempo en el análisis y medición de la pobreza Brief note (p. 34) in “Tiempo urbano, acceso y desarrollo humano", Cuadernos de Desarrollo Humano I (Human Development Notebooks I), PNUD (UNDP) 2013. Link: CDH I (Spanish)

Impuestos y gasto público: un ejercicio de equidad fiscal para el Uruguay,  Macroeconomia del Desarrollo, CEPAL (Aug 2016). Report elaborated within the team of the Social Policy Advisory (2014) of the Budget and Planning Office of the Presidency of Uruguay. Link to the Report (Spanish)

Other training and research-related activities

Training and research visits

• 2019 Visiting PhD student: 

 (I) Sep–Dec 2018: Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) – Mentor: Isaac Baley 

(II) Apr–Sep 2018: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona – Mentor: Xavi Ramos

• 2016 Summer School on Socioeconomic Inequality, Bonn (Germany), August 29-September 2, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Global Working, University of Chicago 

• 2015 Intensive course on Inequality and the Changing Distribution of Income, 15-26 June, CEEL program in Adaptive Economics Dynamics 16th Trento Summer School, Trento (Italy) 

• 2015 Panel Data Methods - with Jeff Wooldridge, CEMMAP, London, 18-19/May/2015

Presentations

Selected Presentations & Conferences

• Green EUROMOD: Carbon Taxes for a Just Transition — European Symposium on Policy Modelling: Carbon Tax, Cross-border Social Security, Inequality and Pension Systems, LISER (Online), Mar 2026

• Carbon Tax Simulations (Proportional and Progressive) for a Just Ecological Transition: Redistributive Effects — Instituto de Estudios Fiscales (IEF), Madrid, Oct 2025

• Who is Energy Poor? — JRC B2 Internal Seminar, European Commission, Seville, Mar 2024

• Carbon Pricing and Inequality with Green EUROMOD — EUROMOD Annual Workshop, JRC, Seville, Sep 2023

• Enforcing Equal Pay for Equal Work in the EU: What Would It Take? — 5th JRC Fiscal Policy Modelling Workshop, Seville, Mar 2023

• Green and Fair? Revision of the Energy Taxation Directive — ARC Conference (JRC–ECFIN), Seville, Sep 2022

• The Redistributive Impact of Indirect Taxation in the EU: Analysis of the Pre-COVID Decade — TAXUD Tax Talk Seminar (Online), Dec 2021

• Economic Cycle and Vertical Mismatches — CREI Macroeconomics Lunch Seminar, Pompeu Fabra GSE, Barcelona, Oct 2018

• Time-Income Poverty, Gender Inequality and Public Policies in Latin America — UNDP Webinar (Online), May 2018

• Safe Ports for All? Economic Cycle and Education — 14th Belgian Day for Labour Economists, UCLouvain, May 2017

• Safe Ports for All? (PhD Paper) — 3rd Workshop on Education Economics, KU Leuven, Mar 2017

• Safe Ports for All? (PhD Paper) — 22nd Spring Meeting of Young Economists, Halle, Mar 2017

— 28th EALE Conference, Ghent University, Sep 2016

— Department of Economics Lunch Seminar, University of Antwerp, Nov 2016

— Centrum voor Sociaal Beleid (CSB) Lunch Seminar, University of Antwerp, Jul 2016

— Doctoral Day, University of Antwerp, Nov 2015

• Advancing the Measurement of the Care Economy: Integrating Time into Poverty Analysis — International Seminar (Guest Speaker), Bogotá, Nov 2014

• The Interlocking of Time and Income Deficits: Revisiting Poverty Measurement — UNDP Workshop, Lima, Mar 2014

• Incorporating Time into Poverty Measurement — UNDP & Ministry of Social Development Workshop, Montevideo, Mar 2013

Peer-review contributions as reviewer

• Spring Meeting of Young Economists conferences

• Journal of Economic Modeling 

• Energy Policy

• International Journal of Microsimulation

• International Journal of Finance and Economics