Completed Works
Education, Labor Markets, and Economic Growth: A Descriptive Analysis of Smaller Economies and Their Trade Superpowers, Submitted to the Curieux Academic Journal
Historically, developing countries like the Dominican Republic (DR) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have maintained extensive trade relationships with global superpowers, but they continue to face persistent economic challenges. In this paper, I explore whether disparities in GDP between the DR and DRC, with respect to their superpower trade partners, affect the economic relationships and growth trajectories of these countries. I leverage longitudinal GDP data from 2000–2023, and compare the United States and China’s trade, labor market, and educational attainment variables against their trade counterparts, DR and DRC’s respective variables. My descriptive analysis revealed that high-income nations with universal secondary education translate trade into sustained wage increases and GDP growth. In contrast, developing exporters show rising exports but declining secondary-school completion, which in turn limits wage growth and constrains long-term economic potential. These findings suggest that trade alone does not create equitable economic growth in developing economies; rather, this paper points to the importance of investing in education and human capital.
Managerial Tone and Market Reaction: Quantifying Sentiment in 10-Q Filings Using FinBERT, with Tay Kim
In this study, we examine how the tone of management discussion in corporate filings relates to short-term stock market reactions. Specifically, we focus on the sentiment expressed in the Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) section of SEC Form 10-Q filings and analyze whether that tone corresponds to abnormal stock returns in the days and weeks following the release. To quantify tone, we used FinBERT, a finance-specific language model trained to identify positive, negative, and neutral sentiment within financial text. Using a sample of major publicly traded firms, we regressed sentiment scores on post-filing abnormal returns over both 5-day and 30-day windows, controlling for firm size and pre-filing volatility. The results reveal a positive but statistically weak relationship between management optimism and short-term returns, suggesting that tone alone explains only a small portion of immediate market reactions. However, volatility showed a more consistent association with longer-term return patterns, implying that risk factors may carry stronger informational weight than linguistic sentiment. This research highlights how even subtle variations in management tone can be measured and compared against market data to better understand how investors process corporate language.