Economist · Intellectual Property, Innovation & Competition
Associate Professor, School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology
Former Chief Economist, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Atlanta, GA · aatoole@gmail.com · LinkedIn · CV (PDF)
Andrew A. Toole, PhD, is an economist specializing in the economics of intellectual property, innovation, and competition. He is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Research Associate at ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
From 2018 to 2025 he served as Chief Economist of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), where he led a team of 12 economists and data scientists and advised the USPTO Director and Department of Commerce leadership on the economic effects of patent and trademark policy. He also served as the agency's Evaluation Officer (2020–2025) under the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act and as Deputy Chief Economist (2015–2018). His office's research covered patent eligibility after Alice, patent examination outcomes, trademark registrations and product introductions, and the contribution of IP-intensive industries to the U.S. economy.
He has published more than 25 refereed articles in journals including the Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Law & Economics, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Management Science, Research Policy, and Nature Biotechnology. His work applies econometrics, causal inference, and machine learning to large-scale patent, trademark, and firm-level data. He holds a PhD and MA in economics from Michigan State University and a BA in economics from Kalamazoo College.
Working paper: “Real Options in Patenting: Uncertainty and Secondary Patent Markets,” USPTO Working Paper, 2025.
Full publication list in the CV (PDF).
Dr. Toole is available for selected consulting engagements, including:
To discuss a potential engagement, email aatoole@gmail.com, or complete the form below.