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Department of Political Science

Leah Rosenstiel

Assistant Professor
Dean's Faculty Fellow in Political Science

Leah Rosenstiel is an Assistant Professor of Political Science. She studies American politics, focusing on the U.S. Congress, federalism, and public policy. Her book, Politics by Formula: How Congressional Policymaking Creates Disparities examines how politics shapes and often distorts government assistance programs, driving inequalities across states. Her articles have appeared in The American Political Science Review, The Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and Science. She received a joint Ph.D. in Politics and Social Policy from Princeton University in 2021 and a B.A. in Political Science from Carleton College in 2014. She previously worked on elementary and secondary education policy at the Congressional Research Service.

Representative publications

  • Hammond, Ben and Leah Rosenstiel. 2020. "Measuring the Influence of Political Actors on the Federal Budget." American Political Science Review 114(2): 603-608.
  • Rosenstiel, Leah. 2026. Politics by Formula: How Congressional Policymaking Creates Disparities. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
  • Curry, James M. and Leah Rosenstiel. 2026. “Unorthodox Lawmaking and the Value of Committee Assignments.” Journal of Politics 88(2): 716-731.
  • Rosenstiel, Leah. 2025. “The Distributive Politics of Grants-in-Aid.” American Politics Science Review 119(1): 152-164.
  • View Curriculum Vitae