Velibor Mačkić, PhD, Special Adviser to the President of the Republic for the Economy since 2020, is also the President of the Economic Council of the President of the Republic of Croatia. Associate professor Mačkić is Head of the Department of Economic Theory at the Faculty of Economics & Business University of Zagreb where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the field of economic theory and political economy.

He defended his doctoral thesis in 2015 at the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Zagreb and also received additional education abroad in the United Kingdom, Greece, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.

From 2007 to 2009 he was employed by Société Générale – Splitska banka JSC and was a member of the external staff of the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics and Business. In 2009 he was employed by the Faculty at the Department of Economic Theory as a junior researcher.

Mr. Mačkić has published several award-winning scientific papers. His main research interests are in these fields: (new) political economy, electoral cycles, analysis of price and non-price competitiveness of contemporary economies, and budget transparency. Mr. Mačkić is active in civil society. He has served as the Chair of the Steering Board of the Academy for Political Development and is currently a member of the Steering Committee of the Centre for Democracy and Law Miko Tripalo.