Garrett Johnson

Assistant Professor, Marketing

Prof. Johnson researches digital marketing: measuring its effectiveness and examining its privacy issues. His ad effectiveness research uses large-scale experiments to measure how and how much ads work. His privacy research both examines the impact of Europe’s GDPR and studies the economics of identity in online advertising.

For his work, Prof. Johnson has been awarded the Paul Green Award, the Weitz-Winer-O’Dell Award, and the John D. C. Little Award, and has been a finalist for the John D. C. Little Award and Gary Lilien Marketing Science Practice Prize. For current and complete information on research, visit garjoh.com.


Selected Research

Samuel G. Goldberg, Garrett A. Johnson, and Scott K. Shriver (forthcoming) Regulating Privacy Online: An Economic Evaluation of the GDPR American Economic Journal: Economic Policy.

Garrett A. Johnson, Scott K. Shriver, and Samuel G. Goldberg (forthcoming) Privacy & market concentration: Intended & unintended consequences of the GDPR Management Science.

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).

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 (special issue on “Consumer Protection”), 39(1): 33-51

Garrett A. Johnson, Randall A. Lewis, and Elmar I. Nubbemeyer (2017) Ghost Ads: A Revolution in Measuring Ad Effectiveness
Journal of Marketing Research, 54(6): 867-884.

Garrett A. Johnson, Randall A. Lewis, and David H. Reiley (2017) When Less is More: Data and Power in Advertising Experiments
Marketing Science, 36(1): 43-53.

    Education
  • PhD, Northwestern University, 2013
    Publications
  • Johnson, G. (In Press). Economic research on privacy regulation: Lessons from the GDPR and beyond."Economics of Privacy", UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
  • Johnson, G., Runge, J., Seufert, E. (2022). "Privacy-Centric Digital Advertising: Implications for Research", Customer Needs and Solutions, 9 (1), 49-49
    Research Presentations
  • Johnson, G. Privacy and the data economy: does technology offer a way forward?, MSI & Brookings Institution "Intended and Unintended Effects of Privacy Regulations on Marketing", Washington, DC, 2023
  • Johnson, G. COPPAcalypse? The YouTube settlement’s impact on kids content, U Rochester Simon Business School, 2023
  • Johnson, G. The advent of privacy-centric digital advertising: Tracing privacy-enhancing technology adoption, J Marketing Virtual Workshop: Marketing Impact with Research-Driven Apps, 2023
  • Johnson, G. Economic research on privacy regulation: Lessons from the GDPR and beyond, Paris Dauphine U Digital Activities Seminar (online), 2023
  • Johnson, G. COPPAcalypse? The YouTube settlement’s impact on kids content, Marketing Science, Miami, FL, 2023
  • Johnson, G. Privacy & market concentration: Intended & unintended consequences of the GDPR, UK Competition & Markets Authority Economics Seminar Series, 2023
  • Johnson, G. The Cookies are Crumbling: What’s Next for Digital Advertising?, Shasha Seminar “A Roadmap for Internet Privacy”, Wesleyan University, 2023
  • Johnson, G. Economic research on privacy regulation: Lessons from the GDPR and beyond, Federal Communications Commission Virtual Economics Seminar, 2023
  • Johnson, G. COPPAcalypse? The YouTube settlement’s impact on kids content, Columbia Business School, 2023
  • Johnson, G. Privacy & market concentration: Intended & unintended consequences of the GDPR, Northeastern U, 2023
  • Johnson, G. The advent of privacy-centric digital advertising: Tracing privacy-enhancing technology adoption, George Mason U PEP Research Roundtable for Privacy Fellows, George Mason U, 2022
  • Johnson, G. Inferno: A guide to field experiments in online display advertising, MIT Conference on Digital Experimentation (CODE), 2022
  • Johnson, G. Economic research on privacy regulation: Lessons from the GDPR and beyond, NBER Tutorial on the Economics of Privacy, 2022
  • Johnson, G. Privacy-Centric Digital Advertising: Implications for Research, Google PARADE 2022: PrivAcy pReserving ADvertising Ecosystem Workshop, 2022
  • Johnson, G. COPPAcalypse? The YouTube settlement’s impact on kids content creation, U Penn Economics and Digital Services Research Symposium, 2022
  • Johnson, G. Privacy & market concentration: Intended & unintended consequences of the GDPR, UC Irvine Paul Merage School of Business, 2022
  • Johnson, G. Award talk, Weitz-Winer-O’Dell Award ("Ghost Ads"), AMA Summer Academic Conference, Chicago, 2022
  • Johnson, G. Privacy-Centric Digital Advertising: Implications for Research, Roku, 2022
  • Johnson, G. General research talk, MSI Junior Scholars Conference, Boulder, 2022
  • Johnson, G. Privacy & market concentration: Intended & unintended consequences of the GDPR, Dartmouth U Annual Tuck Marketing Camp, 2022
  • Johnson, G. Privacy & market concentration: Intended & unintended consequences of the GDPR, International Industrial Organization Conference, Boston, 2022
  • Johnson, G. Privacy & market concentration: Intended & unintended consequences of the GDPR, U Michigan Ross School of Business, 2022
  • Johnson, G. Privacy-Centric Digital Advertising: Implications for Research, IAB Europe Post Third Party Cookie Taskforce, 2022
  • Johnson, G. Privacy & market concentration: Intended & unintended consequences of the GDPR, European Commission Joint Research Centre, 2021
  • Johnson, G. Insights@Questrom Live: The Cookies are crumbling, what’s next for Digital Advertising?, Questrom Digital Business Institute “Insights @ Questrom Live”, 2021
  • Johnson, G. Regulating Privacy Online: An Economic Evaluation of the GDPR, Annual Federal Trade Commission Microeconomics Conference, 2021
  • Johnson, G. Privacy & market concentration: Intended & unintended consequences of the GDPR, Rotterdam School of Management & Erasmus School of Economics, 2021
  • Johnson, G. Privacy & market concentration: Intended & unintended consequences of the GDPR, EMAC SIG Digital Marketing Online Speaker Series, 2021
  • Johnson, G. The Online Display Ad Effectiveness Funnel & Carryover: Lessons from 432 Field Experiments, Amazon, 2021
  • Johnson, G. Regulating Privacy Online: An Economic Evaluation of the GDPR, Joint Digital Economics Seminars (Padova, Paris, & Louvain-la-Neuve), 2021
  • Johnson, G. Privacy & market concentration: Intended & unintended consequences of the GDPR, Virtual Quant Marketing Seminar, 2021
  • Johnson, G. The Online Display Ad Effectiveness Funnel & Carryover: Lessons from 432 Field Experiments, Twitter, 2021
  • Johnson, G. “DSA ads rules what EU business impacts?”, Panelist, “DSA ads rules what EU business impacts?”, Copenhagen Economics, 2021
  • Johnson, G. Regulating Privacy Online: An Economic Evaluation of the GDPR, Indeed.com, 2021
  • Johnson, G. Regulating Privacy Online: An Economic Evaluation of the GDPR, ZEW Economics of Information and Communication Technologies Conference, 2021
  • Johnson, G. Regulating Privacy Online: An Economic Evaluation of the GDPR, George Mason U School of Business, 2021
  • Johnson, G. Consumer privacy choice in online advertising: Who opts out and at what cost to industry?, Facebook Ad Crypto Summit, 2021
  • Johnson, G. Regulating Privacy Online: An Economic Evaluation of the GDPR, Cornell Johnson School Marketing Department, 2021
  • Johnson, G. Context vs. Behavior and Content Subsidization: Evidence from the YouTube Settlement, George Mason U PEP Research Roundtable for Privacy Fellows, 2021
  • Johnson, G. Privacy & market concentration: Intended & unintended consequences of the GDPR, ASSA Virtual Annual Meeting, 2021
  • Johnson, G. Economics of Digital Advertising, George Mason U Attorney General Education Program (AGEP) “Workshop on the Economics of Information, Advertising, & Privacy”
    Awards and Honors
  • 2022, Winner, Weitz-Winer-O’Dell Award
  • 2021, John D.C. Little Award
  • 2021, Boston University Hariri Institute Junior Faculty Fellow
  • 2021, Fellow, Program on Economics & Privacy
  • 2020, 2021 Young Scholar
  • 2020, Marketing Science Institute 2021 Young Scholar
  • 2020, Fellow, Program on Economics & Privacy
  • 2019, Marketing Science Institute Research Support