Anita Rao

Anita Rao is an empirical marketing researcher with broad interests in the domains of digital technology, regulation and public policy. In one stream of research, she studies how changes brought about by the digital world impact the pricing and distribution of consumer goods. In another stream, she studies the interplay of regulation and law on consumer behavior and marketing actions of firms.

Her recent papers include “Demand for “Healthy” Products: False Claims and FTC Regulation” in-press at Journal of Marketing Research and “Online Content Pricing: Purchase and Rental Markets,” published in Marketing Science.

Rao holds a PhD in marketing from Stanford University and a MS in transportation engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She earned a Bachelor of Technology in civil engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), in Madras, India.

Prior to her doctoral studies, she worked in the Customer and Brand Science practice at Mercer Management Consulting.

Research Activities

Quantitative marketing, empirical industrial organization, online content, digital distribution, emerging markets, research and innovation intensive industries.

Published/Accepted Papers

Strategic R&D Investment Decisions in the Pharmaceutical Industry, Marketing Science, accepted. Demand for "Healthy" Products: False Claims and FTC Regulation, with Emily Wang, Journal of Marketing Research, 54(6), 2017. Quality vs. Variety: Trading Larger Screens for More Shows in the Era of Digital Cinema, with Wes Hartmann, Quantitative Marketing and Economics, 13(2), 2015. Online Content Pricing: Purchase and Rental Markets, Marketing Science, 34(3), 2015. Appendix How do firms make money selling digital goods online?, with Lambrecht, A., A. Goldfarb, A. Bonatti, A. Ghose, D.G. Goldstein, R. Lewis, N. Sahni and S. Yao, Marketing Letters, 25(3), 2014.

Working Papers

Value of Aggregators, with Selin Akca (revise and resubmit, 2nd round, Marketing Science) Deceptive Claims using Fake News Marketing: The Impact on Consumers Does Country-of-Origin Marketing Matter?, with Xinyao Kong