At the intersection of data science, econometrics, and applied statistics.
I'm an Assistant Professor of Statistics and Data Science at the Croatian Catholic University in Zagreb. My work sits where quantitative methods meet finance, economics, and digital media. I teach across the statistics curriculum, from introductory to multivariate, along with research methodology, data science, and digital media, and I lead a research project that brings these threads into conversation.
Outside the university, I've worked in financial markets and algorithmic trading, and partnered on applied research across a range of fields and methods, including time-series and financial econometrics, machine learning, NLP-driven media monitoring and narrative analysis, and social and digital analytics. Through all of it, the same rigorous, reproducible quantitative work that takes messy data and turns it into something a team can actually act on.
In progress
- 2026Everything You Want to Know About the State and Public Policies in Croatia University textbook on public choice and public-sector economics, applied to the Croatian context. With Milan Deskar-Škrbić and Petra Palić. CC BY 4.0.
- 2025—27Catholic themes in Croatian digital media Structured database and NLP-driven thematic analysis. Project lead.
- 2024Mapping the Croatian National Bank across digital media Coverage analysis of CNB presence in the Croatian media space.
- 2023Stock–bond hedge breakdown, 2022–23 inflation shock Markov-switching analysis of the classic 60/40 hedge failure.
- 2024Income convergence in Croatia, 2000–2024 Fractional integration and long-memory time-series methods. Open source.
- 2023ESG effects on tourism, EU country panelPanel-data study of ESG indicators in EU tourism economies.
Recent publications
- 2026Competing Media Frames During a National Currency Transition: The Euro Adoption in Croatia Communication Today, Vol. 17 No. 1, 2026
- 2025The Breakdown of the Classic Portfolio Hedge: A Markov-Switching Analysis of the US Stock–Bond Correlation Notitia — časopis za ekonomske, poslovne i društvene teme, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 97–111
- 2025Clickbait and Influencers: How Peripheral Cues Affect the Reach of Native Ads Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci, Vol. 43 No. 2, pp. 511–536
- 2025Income Convergence of Croatia Within the European Union: An Empirical Analysis of Fractional Integration Croatian Review of Economic, Business and Social Statistics, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 35–49
Path
PhD in Economics, University of Zagreb and University of Vienna. MSc in International Economics (Kiel Institute) and MSc in Finance (Zagreb). About eight years as a researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar and the Faculty of Croatian Studies before joining the Croatian Catholic University. I publish in international and Croatian journals and speak regularly on advanced analytics and data-driven decision-making.
Workshops, consulting, collaborations
If you have data you want turned into clear answers, or you'd like a workshop for your team, send a message — luka.sikic@unicath.hr.