Sergi Urzay-Gómez

Sergi Urzay-Gómez

Lecturer in Economics

Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

I am a Lecturer in Economics at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya and a researcher working at the intersection of political economy, applied microeconomics, and European integration. My work examines how institutions and policies shape individual behaviour and economic outcomes, with a focus on labour markets, housing, and welfare states in Germany and the EU. I also teach at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, at the Master’s in Economic Analysis and the Master’s in International Relations. My working languages are Catalan, Spanish, English, German, and French.

Interests
  • Political Economy
  • Applied Microeconomics
  • European Integration
  • Social Policies
  • Housing Economics
Education

  • PhD in Economics, 2024

    Universitat de Girona

  • MSc in Political Analysis, 2018

    Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

  • BSc in Economics, 2016

    Universitat de Girona

Research

My research lies at the intersection of political economy, applied microeconomics, and European integration. Current projects examine housing markets in Germany, welfare state reform and political behaviour, and the determinants of support for European integration. I use microeconometric methods applied to survey and administrative data.

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Selected Publications

2025 Published
Explaining Preferences for EU Integration: Theory and Empirical Evidence
Mauerer, I.; Puy, M.; Urzay-Gómez, S.
European Economic Review, vol. 176, 105038
We present a theoretical framework that explains how European citizens form their preferences on EU integration. Building on theories of nation formation, we consider three ideological cost functions measuring the impact of EU legislation on national politics. Individual-level survey data from EU member states show that European citizens tend to be highly sophisticated: support for integration is driven by citizens who believe EU legislation amends their national policy, while Euroscepticism emerges among those who see it as interference.
2024 Published
Wage Patterns in West Berlin: A Synthetic Control Approach after the Fall of the Wall
Urzay-Gómez, S.
Applied Economics Letters, vol. 33(4), 626–629
Using the Synthetic Control Method and regional-level data (NUTS-2) from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), this paper shows that the collapse of the Berlin Wall led to a sudden stagnation in salaries for West Berliners, compared to a counterfactual scenario where the Wall had remained intact.

Teaching

I teach macroeconomics, microeconomics, and international political economy at undergraduate and graduate levels at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya and the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.

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Contact

Feel free to get in touch by email.