Published & Forthcoming Papers
Garrett A. Johnson (forthcoming) Economic research on privacy regulation: Lessons from the GDPR and beyond in The Economics of Privacy, ed. Avi Goldfarb & Catherine Tucker. University of Chicago Press.
Samuel G. Goldberg, Garrett A. Johnson, and Scott K. Shriver (2024) “Regulating Privacy Online: An Economic Evaluation of the GDPR” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 16(1): 325-58.
- Download working paper
- Note: formerly released under the title “Regulating Privacy Online: The Early Impact of the GDPR on European Web Traffic & e-commerce Outcomes”
- Coverage: MIT Tech Review, Bloomberg, WARC, Madhu Viswanathan, Kellogg Insight, MSI Interview, AEI blog
- Twitter thread
- Video: FTC PrivacyCon ’19 (@ 42:30), jDES Seminar, GMU PEP Talk
Garrett A. Johnson, Scott K. Shriver, and Samuel G. Goldberg (2023) Privacy & market concentration: Intended & unintended consequences of the GDPR Management Science, 69(10): 5695-5721. [Lead Article]
- Download working paper
- Coverage: AdExchanger, MediaPost, Marketing Science Institute, Madhu Viswanathan, Questrom Insights, Schwartz Reisman Institute, C.D. Howe Institute, AEI blog, Life after GDPR
- Twitter thread
- Video: FTC Hearings (@ 1:23), FTC PrivacyCon ’20 (@ 1:11:00), Virtual Quant Marketing Seminar, BU Cyber Alliance, MaCCI/EPoS Virtual IO Seminar, GMU PEP Talk
Garrett A. Johnson (2023) Inferno: A guide to field experiments in online display advertising. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 32(3): 469-490 (requested & peer-reviewed submission). [Lead Article]
Garrett A. Johnson, Julian Runge, and Eric B. Seufert (2022) “Privacy-Centric Digital Advertising: Implications for Research” Customer Needs and Solutions, 9(1): 49-54 (“Perspectives” article).
- Download working paper
- Twitter threads: Paper, FLEDGE, Topics API
- Coverage: Mobile Dev Memo podcast
- Video: “The Cookies are Crumbling: What’s Next for Digital Advertising?” (Questrom Digital Business Institute)
Garrett A. Johnson, Scott K. Shriver, and Shaoyin Du (2020) “Consumer privacy choice in online advertising: Who opts out and at what cost to industry?” Marketing Science, 39(1): 33-51 (special issue on “Consumer Protection”).
- Download working paper
- Winner, 2021 John D.C. Little Award
- Coverage: AdExchanger (1,2,3, 4, 5-FTC), Fortune, The Big Story Podcast, Digiday, DAA blog, U of Digital, Informs Release (1, 2, 3), Questrom (Digital Business Institute), BU’s The Brink (1), AdMonsters (1, 2-interview, 3-FTC), Yahoo! Finance, Leeds, Marketing Brew
- Video: Faculti (9 min summary), FTC Hearings, W3C NY Chapter lightning talk
- Resources: Twitter Thread, Literature review slide, W3C talk Twitter thread, FTC “Commercial Surveillance” Comment (Regulations.gov)
Dean Eckles, Brett R. Gordon, and Garrett A. Johnson (2018) “LETTER: Field studies of psychologically targeted ads face threats to internal validity” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
- Download pre-print
- Coverage: Kellogg Insights, Daily Kos
Garrett A. Johnson, Randall A. Lewis, Elmar I. Nubbemeyer (2017) Ghost Ads: A Revolution in Measuring Ad Effectiveness Journal of Marketing Research, 54(6): 867-884.
- Download working paper
- Winner, 2018 Paul E. Green Award
- Winner, 2022 Weitz-Winer-O’Dell Award (Announcement)
- Finalist, 2018 Gary Lilien Marketing Science Practice Prize
- Coverage: Think with Google blog, Adverting Research Foundation webcast slides, Marketing Science Institute, AMA, Simon Business Magazine, Growth Mastermind podcast, Google Ads & Commerce blog, AdExchanger (2, Comic, 3), Remerge (1, 2), 3Q Digital, NextRoll (1,2), AdspyHub, Criteo, Adikteev, Adelphic, Mobile Dev Memo (podcast), Skyword, SEO Design Chicago, Pandora (release, podcast), YouAppi, Kickbite, Instacart, RTB House, DEPT, Softcrylic, PipiADS, Advertising Report
- Videos: Practice Prize, ARF webcast, ISM U (Randall), Beeswax/Central Control webinar, Insights @ Questrom (11 mins)
- Twitter thread (part 1)
Garrett A. Johnson, Randall A. Lewis, David H. Reiley (2017) When Less is More: Data and Power in Advertising Experiments Marketing Science, 36(1): 43-53.
- Download working paper
- Finalist, 2018 John D.C. Little Award
- Coverage: Informs
Working Papers
COPPAcalypse? The YouTube settlement’s impact on kids content with Tesary Lin, James Cooper, & Liang Zhong
- Coverage: U Penn EODS blog, Truth on the Market, The Drum, Bloomberg Law
- Twitter thread, Thread reader, Comment on FTC’s proposed COPPA rule
The Online Display Ad Effectiveness Funnel & Carryover: Lessons from 432 Field Experiments with Randall Lewis and Elmar Nubbemeyer
- Coverage: WARC, Remerge
- Twitter thread
Cost Per Incremental Action: Efficient Pricing of Advertising with Randall Lewis
Location, Location, Location: Repetition and Proximity Increase Advertising Effectiveness with Randall Lewis and David Reiley
- Note: Experiment’s overall treatment effect results released as “When Less is More”
The Impact of Privacy Policy on the Auction Market for Online Display Advertising
- Best Rising Star Paper, International Industrial Organization Conference (2013)
Great and Small Walls of China: Distance & Chinese E-Commerce with Liang Chen and Yao Luo
- NET Institute Working Paper Series
Work in progress
- Video: GMU Program on Economics & Privacy
- Coverage: AdExchanger
Research resources
Research links: SSRN, Google Scholar
Research advice for PhD students (tweet)
Other media mentions: De Correspondent (English/Dutch, Ycombinator), BU Today, Questrom Magazine, Kellogg Insights, Fortune, AdExchanger (2), New York Times, Investor Place, AdMonsters (2, 3), Hartford Courant, Boston Globe, EUROATIV (FR/EN), BU Hariri, Bloomberg Opinion, Mobile Dev Memo podcast, RTB House, ID5 Identity 2023, Boston Business Journal (+ podcast), Reddit AMA (BU summary), AdExchanger The Big Story podcast, BU The Brink (+ Futurity), Marketplace (2), Marketplace Tech, Marketplace Morning Report