With high interest rates and inflation dominating headlines over the last year, Shorena Giorgadze ’23, an economics major, decided to do a deep dive into the Federal Reserve for her honors thesis. Giorgadze examined how the Fed communicates with citizens, including the tools and methods it favors for imparting information, such as forward guidance.

On this episode of Challenge. Change., Giorgadze explains what she learned while researching her thesis, for which she earned a high honors distinction, and offers advice to her Gen Z peers.

“Forward guidance is how the Fed decides to communicate with the public. I investigated the idea of the Fed being transparent and communicating what they may or may not do, and how that influences financial markets,” she says. “Historically, the Fed has made a conscious effort to become more and more transparent. We will see whether it continues this trend or takes a step back.”

Giorgadze appears in 23 for ’23, a feature that explores graduates’ Clark journeys and their next adventures. After the May 21 Commencement, Giorgadze began a job at Lord, Abbett & Co., an investment management firm.

Challenge. Change. is produced by Andrew Hart and Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.