Randal O'Toole

Randal O'Toole is a Cato Institute Senior Fellow working on urban growth, public land, and transportation issues. O'Toole's research on national forest management, culminating in his 1988 book, Reforming the Forest Service, has had a major influence on Forest Service policy and on-the-ground management. His analysis of urban land-use and transportation issues, brought together in his 2001 book, The Vanishing Automobile and Other Urban Myths, has influenced decisions in cities across the country. In his book The Best-Laid Plans, O'Toole calls for repealing federal, state, and local planning laws and proposes reforms that can help solve social and environmental problems without heavy-handed government regulation. O'Toole's latest book is Gridlock: Why We're Stuck in Traffic and What to Do About It, in which he presents a wide range of innovative ideas and policy recommendations for creating an effective transportation system. O'Toole is the author of numerous Cato papers. He has also written for Regulation magazine as well as op-eds and articles for numerous other national journals and newspapers. O'Toole travels extensively and has spoken about free-market environmental issues in dozens of cities. An Oregon native, O'Toole was educated in forestry at Oregon State University and in economics at the University of Oregon.