Researcher. Advocate. Leader.

Josh Bandoch is the Head of Policy at the Illinois Policy Institute.

His policy research focuses on empowering people to rise out of poverty, increasing social mobility, improving housing affordability, and removing barriers to opportunity (e.g. burdensome regulations). His writing has appeared in popular outlets like National Review, Real Clear Policy, Real Clear Markets, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times,  Crain’s Chicago Business, The Washington Examiner, The Washington Times, and Discourse (see the op-ed  page for links), as well as peer-reviewed journals like Political Studies. He is the author of The Politics of Place: Montesquieu, Particularism, and the Pursuit of Liberty (University of Rochester Press, 2017), which has received numerous positive reviews.

His book on persuasion is forthcoming in 2026 with a commercial publisher. He uses his persuasion research to develop strategies to advocate for policies that expand freedom and prosperity.

Prior to joining IPI, Josh was a Research Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Before that, he was a speechwriter for numerous senior government officials, and a strategic communications consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton. He wrote hundreds of speeches for a wide range of audiences. He started his professional career in academia, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Brown University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where we taught courses on topics like “Freedom,” “Prosperity,” and “The American Founding.”

He earned his bachelor’s in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park, and his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame.