Daniel Andrei

A native Romanian, Daniel Andrei began his studies in actuarial science at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. A second-year class in finance changed his academic course, which led to his degrees in finance.

Andrei is an assistant professor of finance at UCLA Anderson, where he teaches courses in option markets. He conducts research in the area of theoretical asset pricing, with a special focus on the role of information in financial markets. His most recent research explores the impact of the transmission of information through word-of-mouth communication on stock returns and on their volatility.

Andrei was lured to UCLA Anderson by the department’s expertise in asset pricing and the quality of the entire faculty, in particular Michael Brennan, whose research he found interesting, inspiring and close to the work he was pursuing. What he has found encouraging is the open-door atmosphere at the school, “which fosters interaction and discussions about ideas. I think research advances when you interact with people.”

He is currently working on a paper with Associate Professor Bruce Carlin on the implications of creative destruction on financial markets, focusing on the uncertainty that arises when economic agents experiment with a new technology. Experimentation involves an “observer effect” in which the new technology affects the productivity of existing assets. “We are primarily interested in this disturbance effect.”

A former amateur boxer, Andrei long ago hung up the gloves and has subsequently found enjoyment playing pool and learning to surf in the Santa Monica Bay.

He has been a visiting scholar at Kellogg School of Management and lecturer at both HEC Lausanne and Ecole Ploytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. He is fluent in Romanian, French and English.