(Posted November 7, 2011)

Brad Andrew, associate professor of economics----Photo by Kelly Russo
Brad Andrew, associate professor of economics----Photo by Kelly Russo

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Bradley Andrew, associate professor of economics at Juniata College, will give a talk, "Let's Beat the Ivies: Evaluating a Simple Investment Strategy," that could vastly improve the investment performance of small-college endowments, Juniata's in particular, at 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 16, in Neff Lecture Hall in the von Liebig Center for Science.

The lecture is free and open to the public. The lecture is part of the Bookend Seminar Lecture series, which features afternoon lectures each month by Juniata College faculty.

Andrew will explain a simple timing investment strategy based on research by investment manager Mebane Faber, of Cambria Investment Management. Andrew and a student, Gabe Castro, of Highland Lakes, N.J., co-wrote a paper proposing that small-college endowments would benefit if investors bought an asset (stocks or bonds) when it is at a point above its 10-month average and then sold the asset when it was below its 10-month average (putting the proceeds from the sale into a safe account, such as a money market account), risks and maximum losses can be significantly reduced within a portfolio while still earning significant returns.

Andrew and Castro's research found that using this strategy would have outperformed Juniata's endowment returns over the last two decades and would have beaten the investment performance for the endowments at Harvard and Yale over the past decade.

Andrew came to Juniata in 2001 from Babson College, where he worked as a visiting lecturer during the 2000-2001 academic year. From 1996 to 2000, he also was an instructor for individual economics courses offered at Babson College and Bentley College. He has worked as an instructor at University of Connecticut campuses at Storrs, Avery Point and Waterbury.

Andrew will explain a simple timing investment strategy based on research by investment manager Mebane Faber, of Cambria Investment Management.

He was promoted to associate professor at Juniata in 2007. Andrew also is director of Juniata's International Studies Program. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1989 from Framingham State College in Framingham, Mass. Andrew went on to earn a master's degree in economics in 1992 and a doctorate in economics in 2001, both from the University of Connecticut.

Andrew's research focus is in the history of economic thought and economic history. He has co-authored two papers on the economic history of the Shakers and wrote his dissertation on 17th and 18th century British economic thought and policy. He is interested in teaching such subjects as International Economics, Managerial Economics, Business Statistics, Financial Markets and Institutions, Microeconomics and Macroeconomics.

He published his research on the Shakers in Communal Societies and Exploration in Economic History.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.