Liisa Ecola

Historic Research Conference Combats the Rise in Gun Violence

With new funding for gun violence prevention research, projects are beginning to produce findings. To capitalize on the new findings and help integrate the growing field of researchers working on gun violence prevention, RAND partnered with other research programs to organize the 2022 National Research Conference on Firearm Injury Prevention.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Tool

Climate Adaptation Strategies for National Critical Functions

This tool presents climate adaptation strategies for a set of National Critical Functions (NCFs) that are capable of mitigating the risks posed by climate change.

Report

Streamlining Emergency Management: Issues, Impacts, and Options for Improvement

Researchers sought ways to streamline, simplify, and strengthen the U.S. emergency management system, assessing how overlap, duplication, and fragmentation could affect implementation and outcomes. They propose options and discuss trade-offs of each.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Journal Article

Making Congestion Pricing Equitable

Identifies and assesses ways of making congestion pricing equitable.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.