Van Pham, Ph.D.
- Chair and Professor of Economics
Between Sanctuary and Sovereignty: Toward a Faithful Framework on Immigration
American immigration debate is loud, but rarely constructive. This breakout session steps back from the turmoil to ask what a faithful U.S. immigration policy might look like going forward — one that holds together Scripture's call to compassion and stewardship, the sovereignty that borders protect, and the economic realities of labor shortages and a falling fertility rate. The hope is simply to think more carefully together about one of the defining questions of our generation.
Session Speaker
Van Pham is a professor of Economics. His research focuses on diverse issues relevant to the U.S. and world economies including responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration and migration, health policy, child labor, gender in labor markets, corruption, sovereign debt and technology change. Pham and a colleague at the Texas A&M University School of Law developed and maintain the Immigrant Climate Index, a measure of conditions facing immigrants created by legislation enacted at the state, county and city levels. Pham's papers have been published in top economics and law journals and have been cited more 3000 times. He also writes non-academic policy commentary in both English and Vietnamese language outlets. Pham has advised more than 25 research theses and teaches both undergraduate and graduate students. He has given talks to academics, business executives, diplomats and policy makers in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
After his studies at MIT, where he was a Tau Beta Pi and Pi Tau Sigma graduate in Mechanical Engineering, Pham worked as an overseas volunteer in a refugee camp in the Philippines. This experience inspired him to work on issues that affect the poor. Pham would go on to study for a PhD in Economics at Cornell University. Pham was a Fulbright Scholar visiting the University of Economics in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and has held visiting positions at the University of Rouen, France, and the World Bank. His research has been funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation and the Walmart Foundation.
