Liisa Ecola

Senior Policy Analyst

Washington Office

Education

M.C.P. in city planning, University of California, Berkeley; M.A. in political science, Emory University; B.A. in international relations, Emory University

One Page Bio

Media Resources

This researcher is available for interviews.

To arrange an interview, contact the RAND Office of Media Relations at (310) 451-6913, or email media@rand.org.

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Overview

Liisa Ecola is a senior policy analyst at the RAND Corporation. She is a transportation planner with 20+ years of experience and broad interests in transportation funding, traffic safety, environmental and land use impacts, and long-term mobility trends. She recently led RAND’s work on the “Road to Zero,” a long-term vision of eliminating deaths from traffic crashes by 2050. For the CDC, she provided research and management support to develop and later update a tool to determine the costs and benefits of various policies to reduce vehicle crash deaths and injuries. She is the lead author of two reports about long-term mobility—one on the future of driving in developing countries, and the other on future mobility in China—and coauthor of a third on the potential impacts of technology on transportation demand in the United Kingdom. She also led RAND's transportation work on the long-term recovery plan for post–Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico. Other work at RAND has included developing a potential trial of mileage fees, analyzing funding and finance issues for airports, and identifying quality-of-life indicators for land use/transportation for Guangdong Province. She has conducted extensive work in smart growth, managing the National Award for Smart Growth Achievement for EPA for five years. Before joining RAND, Ecola worked in transportation, land use, and policy consulting; she also served as a Foreign Service officer for six years, stationed in Warsaw and Taipei. Ecola received her Master of City Planning degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Research Focus

Recent Projects

The Road to Zero: A Vision for Achieving Zero Roadway Deaths by 2050
Mileage-Based User Fees for Transportation Funding: A Primer for State and Local Decisionmakers
Rebuilding Surface, Maritime, and Air Transportation in Puerto Rico After Hurricanes Irma and Maria: Supporting Documentation for the Puerto Rico Recovery Plan
U.S. Airport Infrastructure Funding and Financing
How Is COVID-19 Changing Americans' Online Shopping Habits? Five Months in to the Pandemic

Selected Publications

Sorensen, Paul, Liisa Ecola, and Martin Wachs, "Emerging Strategies in Mileage-Based User Fees: Reducing Costs and Increasing Public Acceptance," Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2345, 2013

Ecola, Liisa, Steven W. Popper, Richard Silberglitt, and Laura Fraade-Blanar, The Road to Zero: A Vision for Achieving Zero Roadway Deaths by 2050, RAND (RR-2333), 2018

Rohr, Charlene, Liisa Ecola, Johanna Zmud, Fay Dunkerley, James Black, and Eleanor Baker, Travel in Britain in 2035: Future scenarios and their implications for technology innovation, RAND (RR-1377), 2016

Ecola, Liisa, and Thomas Light, "Making Congestion Pricing Equitable," Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2187, 2011

Knopman, Debra, Johanna Zmud, Liisa Ecola, Zhimin Mao, Keith Crane, Quality of Life Indicators and Policy Strategies to Advance Sustainability in the Pearl River Delta, RAND (RR-871), 2015

Ecola, Liisa, Johanna Zmud, Kun Gu, Peter Phleps, and Irene Feige, The Future of Mobility: Scenarios for China in 2030, RAND (RR-991), 2015

Ecola, Liisa, Charlene Rohr, Johanna Zmud, Tobias Kuhnimhof, and Peter Phleps, The Future of Driving in Developing Countries, RAND (RR-636), 2014

Ecola, Liisa, Benjamin Batorsky, Jeanne Ringel, Using Cost-effectiveness Analysis to Prioritize Spending on Traffic Safety, RAND (RR-1224), 2015

Recent Media Appearances

Interviews: Auto Channel; CNN, Headline News; KCBS-AM; KPCC

Commentary

Micromobility: How Will We Know When It's Working?
Micromobility was positioned as a solution for every urban problem from traffic congestion to air pollution to transit deserts and inequality. Is there a way to know if micromobility can fulfill these ambitious goals?
May 18, 2021 The RAND Blog
Navigating Speed Bumps to a Possible Federal Vehicle Miles Traveled Fee
It's been clear for years that the gas tax has been losing its ability to pay for America's existing roads and bridges, let alone improvements and new construction. A vehicle miles traveled fee could provide a potential option for a 21st-century transportation funding system.
Mar 26, 2021 The Hill
The Social Distancing Economy: Q&A with RAND Experts
Congress and the White House are weighing economic policies to help people acutely affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Here are insights from RAND experts on what might be effective in terms of fiscal policy, stimulus spending, and emergency relief to affected workers.
Mar 18, 2020
The Road Ahead: Rebuilding the Country's Infrastructure in the Trump Administration Era
Policymakers generally agree on the need to rebuild America's infrastructure. But the country is far behind in this area. Why? Transportation projects take time and money. And it's hard to predict how a project will affect its surroundings.
Nov 14, 2016 The RAND Blog
A New Tool to Assess the Costs and Effectiveness of Traffic Crash Interventions
Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in the U.S. An online tool can help policymakers understand the available evidence-based interventions that can help prevent crash injuries and deaths, what they will cost, and how effective they will be in their state.
Apr 4, 2016 ITE Journal
Pay as You Go
Using vehicle miles traveled as a means of distributing the cost of maintaining America's roads and bridges may not be the only answer, but it represents the kind of innovative thinking that is necessary at a time when this sector of the American transportation infrastructure is desperately in need of a fix.
Jul 22, 2015 Politico
How to Improve Oregon's Mileage-Fee Experiment
Oregon is rolling out the nation's first large-scale pilot to examine switching to a mileage fee instead of the gas tax. The trial is a welcome next step toward understanding how mileage fees can be deployed.
Jul 7, 2015 The Oregonian
Paying for Infrastructure, a Taxing Issue
If the user pays idea is worth saving, the United States needs a different calculation, writes Liisa Ecola. Some states are looking at mileage fees. With mileage fees, you pay based on the number of miles you drive, rather than the number of gallons of gas used.
May 16, 2013 The RAND Blog
Does U.S. Gas Tax Still Make Sense?
It's time to consider changing the country's transportation funding scheme from one based on gallons purchased to one based on vehicle miles actually traveled, writes Liisa Ecola.
Mar 8, 2013 The Orange County Register
Getting Over the Privacy Hurdle to Mileage-Based Road Fees
There is no need for privacy concerns to halt all discussion of new technologies to help address America's mounting transportation funding crisis, writes Liisa Ecola.
Jun 6, 2012 DC.STREETSBLOG.org

Publications

Report
Assessing Risk to the National Critical Functions as a Result of Climate Change
Researchers developed a framework to assess and manage the risk that climate change poses to National Critical Functions, then used the framework to assess the most-vulnerable ones. This report details the risk assessment portions of the framework.
Apr 5, 2022
Report
How Is COVID-19 Changing Americans' Online Shopping Habits? Five Months into the Pandemic
Americans' online shopping habits have shifted during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. By August 2020, more Americans were shopping online, and those who were frequent online shoppers reported spending more money on their purchases.
Nov 10, 2020
Report
Rebuilding Surface, Maritime, and Air Transportation in Puerto Rico After Hurricanes Irma and Maria: Supporting Documentation for the Puerto Rico Recovery Plan
The Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center was asked to develop a poststorm recovery plan for Puerto Rico. This report describes the transportation sector, including prestorm conditions, damage, repair cost estimates, and courses of action.
Sep 30, 2020
Journal Article
Study Design to Evaluate a Group-based Therapy for Support Persons of Adults on Buprenorphine/Naloxone
This study will evaluate whether the adapted intervention, also known as integrating support persons into recovery, is effective in increasing patient retention on buprenorphine when compared to usual care.
Sep 18, 2020
Report
How Is COVID-19 Changing Americans' Online Shopping Habits?
Despite widespread stay-at-home orders as a response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, most Americans have not changed their online shopping habits. RAND researchers examine the factors determining who is more likely to change their habits.
Jul 7, 2020
Journal Article
Guidebook for Multi-Agency Collaboration for Sustainability and Resilience
This guidebook provides a framework and practical advice for how to establish and sustain multi-agency collaborations that seek to address wide-ranging comprehensive policy objectives.
Mar 11, 2020
Report
U.S. Airport Infrastructure Funding and Financing: Issues and Policy Options Pursuant to Section 122 of the 2018 Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act
Passenger air travel is at an all-time high, and airports are investing in the infrastructure needed to meet demand. This report contains a comprehensive review of the role of the federal government in airport infrastructure funding and financing.
Jan 14, 2020
Report
U.S. Airport Infrastructure Funding and Financing: Issues and Policy Options Pursuant to Section 122 of the 2018 Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act: Executive Summary
Passenger air travel is at an all-time high, and airports are investing in the infrastructure needed to meet demand. This document summarizes the full report's review of the federal government's role in airport infrastructure funding and financing.
Jan 14, 2020
Report
Homeland Security National Risk Characterization: Risk Assessment Methodology
Presents a risk assessment methodology that can be used to identify the greatest risks to homeland security and support prioritization of U.S. Department of Homeland Security mission elements as part of DHS planning processes.
Sep 19, 2018
Report
The Road to Zero: A Vision for Achieving Zero Roadway Deaths by 2050
Imagine that, in 2050, not a single person in the United States dies in a traffic crash. This report describes how changes in policy, technology, and social norms can substantially improve road safety, leading to zero roadway deaths by 2050.
Apr 19, 2018
Report
The Road to Zero: Executive Summary: A Vision for Achieving Zero Roadway Deaths by 2050
Imagine that, in 2050, not a single person in the United States dies in a traffic crash. This executive summary to The Road to Zero: A Vision for Achieving Zero Roadway Deaths by 2050 describes how that might be possible.
Apr 19, 2018
Tool
Costs and Effectiveness of Interventions to Reduce Motor Vehicle–Related Injuries and Deaths: Supplement to Tool Documentation
This report documents the update of an online tool to help assess costs and effectiveness of implementing up to 14 interventions and select those most effective in reducing death and injury from motor vehicle crashes for a given budget.
Feb 2, 2018
Tool
Motor Vehicle Prioritizing Interventions and Cost Calculator for States (MV PICCS)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's updated interactive Motor Vehicle Prioritizing Interventions and Cost Calculator for States can help state decisionmakers prioritize motor vehicle injury-prevention interventions.
Feb 2, 2018
Report
Travel in Britain in 2035: Future scenarios and their implications for technology innovation
In this study, we developed future scenarios to examine the influence of technologies on travel and interviewed experts about the key policy implications. From these, we developed a strategic roadmap to inform future UK policies and investments.
Jun 24, 2016
Research Brief
Travel in Britain in 2035: Future scenarios and their implications for technology
By 2035 UK transport infrastructure may be severely congested. Innovate UK commissioned this study to explore how technology might address the congestion problem by using capacity more efficiently, supporting modal choice and managing travel demand.
Jun 24, 2016
Report
Resources and Capabilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs to Provide Timely and Accessible Care to Veterans
The Department of Veterans Affairs health care system, with broad resources and capabilities, provides timely and high-quality care to most, but not all, patients. Meeting veterans' needs over the next five years will require additional capacity.
Dec 31, 2015
Tool
Costs and Effectiveness of Interventions to Reduce Motor Vehicle–Related Injuries and Deaths: Project Report and Online-Tool Documentation
This report documents production of an online tool to help assess costs and effectiveness of implementing up to 14 interventions and select those most effective in reducing death and injury from motor vehicle crashes for a given budget.
Dec 14, 2015
Research Brief
How to Get the Biggest Impact from an Increase in Spending on Traffic Safety
According to analysis with a free new tool, allocating increased federal traffic safety funding by cost-effectiveness ratios rather than equally among states would save more than double the number of lives and prevent almost five times the injuries.
Dec 14, 2015
Research Brief
A New Tool to Help Decisionmakers Select Interventions to Reduce Traffic Crash Deaths and Injuries
This brief describes an interactive tool that can help statedecisionmakers choose policies that are effective in reducing motor vehicle accidents in their states and appropriate to state budgets, saving lives and reducing economic and societal loss.
Dec 14, 2015
Research Brief
Should Traffic Crash Interventions Be Selected Nationally or State by State?
According to analysis using a new, free tool, a national allocation of funds for traffic crash prevention might cost less than allocating according to state-by-state needs, but it might save significantly fewer lives and reduce far fewer injuries.
Dec 14, 2015
Report
Using Cost-Effectiveness Analysis to Prioritize Spending on Traffic Safety
This report examines how traffic safety funding could be spent to reduce motor vehicle crash-related injuries and deaths by identifying the most cost-effective interventions at the national and state levels.
Dec 14, 2015
Research Brief
Which Behavioral Interventions Are Most Cost-Effective in Reducing Drunk Driving?
Drunk driving is extremely dangerous, but not all drunk driving policies are equally cost-effective in all states. This brief describes a tool that can help decisionmakers choose policies that are appropriate for their states and state budgets.
Dec 14, 2015
Report
Quality of Life Indicators and Policy Strategies to Advance Sustainability in the Pearl River Delta
Proposes a system of quality of life indicators and identifies policy options to improve quality of life in the Pearl River Delta, a region of Guangdong Province in southeastern China.
Nov 6, 2015
Brochure
China, Inside and Out: A Collection of Essays on Foreign and Domestic Policy in the Xi Jinping Era
This collection of essays explore some of the realities of China's overriding philosophies.
Oct 20, 2015
Report
The Future of Mobility: Scenarios for China in 2030
Researchers developed two scenarios to envision the future of mobility in China in 2030. Economic growth, the presence of constraints on vehicle ownership and driving, and environmental conditions differentiate the scenarios.
Jun 30, 2015
Research Brief
Driving in the Future in Developing Countries
Automobility -- travel in personal vehicles -- varies between countries. This brief summarizes a study of the factors besides economic development that affect automobility and how automobility might evolve in developing countries.
Jul 15, 2014
Report
The Future of Driving in Developing Countries
The level of automobility, defined as travel in personal vehicles, varies between countries. Researchers sought to determine the factors besides economic development that affect automobility and how automobility might evolve in developing countries.
Jul 15, 2014
Journal Article
Automobility in Brazil, Russia, India, and China: Quo Vadis?
Toward which levels of automobility are the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) headed?
2014
Journal Article
Preparing State Transportation Agencies for an Uncertain Energy Future
This report examines how the mandate, role, funding, and operations of state departments of transportation (DOTs) will likely be affected by changes in energy supply and demand in the next 30 to 50 years.
2014
Report
Mileage-Fee Design Strategies to Reduce System Cost and Increase Public Acceptance
Webinar with research findings on design strategies to reduce system costs and increase public acceptance of mileage-based fees.
Nov 14, 2013
Report
The Future of Mobility: Scenarios for the United States in 2030
This report presents qualitative and quantitative scenarios for the future of mobility in the United States in 2030. It also suggests how transportation planners and policymakers can use these scenarios to inform strategic planning.
Oct 24, 2013
Journal Article
Emerging Strategies in Mileage-Based User Fees: Reducing Costs and Increasing Public Acceptance
On the basis of recent studies, trials, and implementation efforts, this paper presents a review of promising mileage-fee design and implementation strategies intended to reduce system costs and foster greater public acceptance.
2013
Tool
Mileage-Based User Fees for Transportation Funding: A Primer for State and Local Decisionmakers
This illustrated guide provides senior decisionmakers with a high-level synopsis of mileage fee issues: policy motivations, technical options, key challenges, and emerging strategies to address those challenges.
Dec 28, 2012
Journal Article
Exploring the Relationship Between Travel Demand and Economic Growth
This paper presents results of an assessment of the state of research on decoupling the relationship between vehicle travel and economic growth.
Dec 1, 2012
Report
Is Inclusionary Zoning Inclusionary? A Guide for Practitioners
Examines whether inclusionary zoning programs in the United States serve lower-income families and provide recipients with access to low-poverty neighborhoods and high-performing schools.
Jun 1, 2012
Report
Energy Services Analysis: An Alternative Approach for Identifying Opportunities to Reduce Emissions of Greenhouse Gases
This report uses energy services analysis (ESA) to examine possibilities for changing how a service is delivered. ESA is used to analyze how changes in two services -- news delivery and personal mobility -- might reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions.
Apr 10, 2012
Research Brief
Moving Toward Vehicle Miles of Travel Fees to Replace Fuel Taxes: Assessing the Path Forward
Assesses alternate mechanisms for implementing fees to fund the nation's road network based on vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and outlines a plan for large-scale system trials to further evaluate the most promising concepts.
Mar 29, 2011
Report
Advancing Aeronautics: A Decision Framework for Selecting Research Agendas
Develops a unified decisionmaking approach for selecting aeronautics research agendas that quantifies the social and economic reasons for the research, balances competing perspectives, and enables transparent explanation of the resulting decisions.
Feb 17, 2011
Report
System Trials to Demonstrate Mileage-Based Road Use Charges
Explore options for conducting a set of trials to test the feasibility of transitioning from fuel excise taxes to a system of road use charges based on vehicle miles of travel.
Feb 11, 2011
Periodical
RAND Review: Vol. 34, No. 3, Winter 2010-2011
Stories discuss Haitian recovery, transportation finance, teacher accountability, childhood psychological problems, aging Americans, military savings, U.S. space systems, Middle East peace, the Wallace Foundation, and Politics Aside 2010.
Jan 6, 2011
Journal Article
Making Congestion Pricing Equitable
Identifies and assesses ways of making congestion pricing equitable.
2011
Report
Understanding and Reducing Off-Duty Vehicle Crashes Among Military Personnel
Reviews a wide variety of evidence regarding traffic safety in the United States, with specific reference to military personnel, focusing on safety interventions and attempts to change driver behavior and decisions.
Sep 21, 2010
Report
Implementable Strategies for Shifting to Direct Usage-Based Charges for Transportation Funding
Explores ways that direct charges to road users, based on vehicle-miles of travel (VMT), could be implemented by 2015.
Sep 25, 2009
Report
Strengthening U.S. International Energy Assistance to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Improve Energy Security
U.S. international energy-assistance programs, a potentially important tool for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and increasing energy security, are reviewed and compared with German programs; recommendations are made for further study.
Sep 10, 2009
Journal Article
Freight Transportation Resilience: How System-Wide Perspective Can Help Metropolitan Planning Organizations and Departments of Transportation
A resilient transportation system is one that minimizes both the initial effect of the disruption and the time required to return the system to normal operations.
Jun 1, 2009
Report
Equity and Congestion Pricing: A Review of the Evidence
Some congestion pricing projects have been undertaken to address traffic congestion, but some worry that congestion pricing is inequitable. This report looks at the evidence that might support or negate this claim.
May 21, 2009
Report
Transportation Challenges for the New Administration: Perspectives of Past DOT Secretaries
Summarizes the remarks of three previous Department of Transportation secretaries at a January 2009 panel discussion on transportation policymaking.
Apr 9, 2009
Report
Evaluating Options for U.S. Greenhouse-Gas Mitigation Using Multiple Criteria
This paper develops a framework for evaluating U.S. greenhouse gas-mitigation policy balancing several criteria, beyond just cost-effectiveness, to reflect institutional and political realities and the policies' effects on producers and consumers.
Apr 3, 2009
Research Brief
Integrating U.S. Climate, Energy and Transportation Policies: RAND Workshops Address Challenges and Potential Solutions
In an effort to share different perspectives on potential climate policy solutions, RAND convened three workshops -- one each on climate change policy, energy, and transportation -- in which stakeholders addressed climate policy ideas and challenges.
Feb 20, 2009
Report
Integrating U.S. Climate, Energy, and Transportation Policies: Proceedings of Three Workshops
Three workshops on climate change mitigation policy brought together representatives of government, industry, advocacy groups, and the research community to address the interconnection of such policies with the energy and transportation sectors.
Feb 20, 2009
Journal Article
In Search of Effective and Viable Policies to Reduce Greenhouse Gases
This article discusses research into policies to manage greenhouse gases in the U.S. Debates in the U.S. Congress regarding the distribution of economic impacts associated with different mechanisms designed to encourage the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are considered.
2009
Report
Improving the Safety and Security of Freight and Passenger Rail in Pennsylvania
Reviews Pennsylvania's statutory and regulatory authority over rail, recent studies and actions regarding rail safety and security, and actions taken by other states, and includes a qualitative analysis of risks to rail infrastructure.
Nov 10, 2008
Research Brief
Reducing Traffic Congestion in Los Angeles
This research brief identifies key factors determining L.A. transportation policy needs and makes 13 recommendations that together could reduce congestion -- arguably the worst in the country -- substantially within five years.
Sep 3, 2008
Report
Moving Los Angeles: Short-Term Policy Options for Improving Transportation
The authors of this book recommend strategies for reducing traffic congestion in the Los Angeles area that could significantly enhance quality of life, reduce economic and environmental costs, and improve social justice within about five years.
Aug 23, 2008