Technology, Digital Economy, and Artificial Intelligence

Lorin M. Hitt

Zhang Jindong Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions,
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania;
Senior Advisor, Cornerstone Research

Lorin Hitt is an expert in applied econometrics who works on a broad range of antitrust, product liability, and intellectual property matters. He studies the role of information and information technology in pricing and product strategy decisions, competition, market structure, and consumer behavior.

Professor Hitt’s research focuses on how information and technology create economic value; how goods and services are priced; how competition works in information-intensive industries and online markets; and how consumers search and use information in their decision-making, among other topics. In his research, Professor Hitt utilizes a variety of empirical methods to estimate demand and supply, measure the effect of external events on market prices, and value individual product features in differentiated products.

Professor Hitt has substantial experience addressing class certification, damages, and liability issues. His expertise includes analyzing market data and evaluating proposed empirical methods such as hedonic price analyses, difference-in-differences regression analyses, and conjoint analyses. He has testified in high-profile antitrust, product liability, data privacy, data breach, and intellectual property matters, such as:

• Epic v. Apple, a matter involving Apple’s App Store, which Global Competition Review (GCR) recognized as its 2022 Matter of the Year and Litigation of the Year – Non-Cartel Defence
• Earl et al. v. Boeing and Southwest, in which the Fifth Circuit de-certified the proposed class on appeal
• Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Litigation (Nemet et al. v. Volkswagen), in which the judge dismissed the case, finding the plaintiffs’ analyses to be unreliable and inadmissible due to critical flaws that Professor Hitt identified
• Johannessohn et al. v. Polaris Industries Inc.
• In Re TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation
• Stragent LLC et al. v. Intel Corp.

Professor Hitt’s research has been published in leading economics and management journals, including the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of Economic Perspectives, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Management Science, and Information Systems Research.

At the Wharton School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Professor Hitt has taught courses on competition and customer pricing, information systems management, the economics of technology, and data analysis. He has won the annual Wharton Undergraduate Teaching Award more than ten times, and he has also been honored with the Wharton-wide Hauck Award and the University of Pennsylvania-wide Lindback Award for distinguished teaching.

Lesley Chiou

Laurence de Rycke Professor of Economics,
Occidental College

Jonah Berger

Associate Professor of Marketing,
The Wharton School,
University of Pennsylvania

Jonah Berger is a renowned expert on word of mouth, influence, consumer behavior, and how products, ideas, and behaviors are shared and disseminated.

Professor Berger analyzes the impact of digital and traditional marketing, as well as social media, on consumer behavior and product demand. He specializes in using sophisticated quantitative tools, such as natural language processing and automated content analysis, to gain behavioral insights from textual data. He has also conducted hundreds of surveys in his academic work and has opined on surveys as an expert witness. In Ciccio et al. v. SmileDirectClub LLC et al., for example, he rebutted a survey and analyzed marketing data to demonstrate the need for individualized inquiry. Professor Berger has frequently testified in depositions and at trial.

In his research, Professor Berger assesses how text in online reviews, customer service calls, press releases, marketing communications, and other interactions can be used to gain insights about the impact of marketing. He has also studied what makes certain online content go viral, the effects of negative publicity, and how assortment size influences brand perceptions and choice.

Professor Berger is the author of bestselling books on consumer behavior, including Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way (2023); The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone’s Mind (2020); Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces That Shape Behavior (2016); and Contagious: Why Things Catch On (2013). Amazon cited Contagious among its Best Business Books of the Year.

Professor Berger has published over seventy academic articles, including in leading journals such as the Journal of Marketing and the Journal of Consumer Research. His coauthored article “What Makes Online Content Go Viral?” won Sage’s 2023 10-Year Impact Award, which recognizes articles with lasting influence in the decade since their publication. The Journal of Marketing Research https://group.sagepub.com/press-releases/sages-10-year-impact-awards-recognize-research-with-long-term-influencealso honored this article with its William F. O’Dell Award, for significant, long-term contribution to marketing theory, methodology, and/or practice.

The American Management Association named Professor Berger one of the top thirty leaders in business. He consults to major tech firms, global retailers, and leading nonprofit organizations.

Professor Berger has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, and the Journal of Consumer Psychology, among others. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review often cover his research.

At the Wharton School, Professor Berger has received multiple awards for excellence in research and teaching. He has taught courses on consumer behavior and marketing management, and his online course is one of the most popular in the world.